Agateophobia
by rottenapples801
Summary: From the moment she lost everything, Momo Hinamori had always thought she would never be happy. That she was the only unhappy one. Until she moves in with her freakishly optimistic uncle and a strange boy full of surprises. And a deep, dark secret.
1. When life tumbles down a mountain

_**HEY GUYS… THIS IS MY THIRD HITSUHINA FANFIC… YAY! I KNOW I SHOULD BE WORKING ON OPERATION PURPLEHEART AND ALL THAT**__** AND ALL MY CRAP ASSIGNMENTS AT SCHOOL BUT LIKE A DRUG… **__**SO ADDICTIVE…**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN BLEACH OR THE SONG "**__**THE **__**PRETENDER" BY THE FOO FIGHTERS…**_

_**…**_

"Kira! Stop it! Geez!" Momo laughed as her blonde-haired friend playfully tickled her sides in the car.

"Kids! Be quiet back there!" Mrs and Mr Hinamori shouted from the front seats as they eyes quickly darted from the complicated map in front of them to the winding mountain road ahead. Kira then stopped tickling Momo and sat back in his seat.

"I can't believe we FINALLY finished middle school this year! YES!!! No more Sex Ed! WOO!!!"

The bun-haired girl laughed at the boy's cheer before beginning to sing along to a song on the radio.

**"****Keep you in the dark****You**** know they all pretend****Keep you in the dark****And so it all began****"**

Kira smiled then began singing along with her.**"****Send in your skeletons****Sing as their bones go marching in...****again****The need you buried deep****The secrets that you keep are at the ready****Are you ready?****I'm finished making sense****Done**** pleading ignorance****That whole...defense****Spinning infinity, boy****The wheel is spinning me****It's never-ending, never-ending****Same old story****"**

The two preteens then shifted their positions in the car so that they were back to back doing a mini shimmy-shimmy.**"****What if I say I'm not like the others?****What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays****You're**** the pretender****What if I say I will never surrender?****What if I say I'm not like the others?****What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays****You're**** the pr****etender****What if I say that I'll-"**

"HONEY! THERE'S A BOY ON THE ROAD!" Mrs. Hinamori yelled out as Mr. Hinamori quickly swerved to the right to dodge the child. He looked just about Momo and Kira's age with stunning eyes and white or silverish hair…

That was all Momo could analyze in the mysterious figure before their car burst through the side barriers and was tumbling down the side of the mountain. Glass smashed and cut parts of her body and shredded her clothes. The petite girl screamed with her friend as the vehicle then hit a colossal tree and was totally wrecked. It was twisted…

All that Hinamori could remember now was the sharp, turquoise eyes that bored into her own chocolate brown ones before life took a cruel trip down the mountain…

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Momo blinked a couple of times as bright light poured into her eyes.

_'So… bright… where am I__My body hurts…__where IS everybody__ WAIT! NO!'_

"KIRA! MUM! (A/N: I spell "mom" like "mum" coz I'm from Australia… Australians that r readin' this would know…) DAD!" The girl shot forward before doubling over in pain. A doctor with dark brown hair and hazel eyes with a stethoscope around his neck entered the room.

"Miss Hinamori, you shouldn't make sudden movements as your wounds will ope-"

"Where are Kira and my parents?"

The man's eyes filled with sympathy before replying.

"I'll let you visit them if you promise to stay calm."

"I promise! I just need to see that they're okay!"

A nurse then entered the room and helped Hinamori get into a wheelchair before pushing her to the other side of the hallway. The door before them that stopped Hinamori from seeing her loved ones didn't look too friendly. The doctor and nurse slid the door open together as Hinamori wheeled her way to three beds in the room.

_'No… no… PLEASE! NO!__'_

Tears started to flow down the girl's bruised cheeks as her eyes absorbed the sight of the metal tables with corpses covered with white blankets on them. The nurse slowly made her way to all three tables and pulled down the sheets so that only the heads of the corpses were visible.

Hinamori's hands flew to her mouth as she made her way to her loved ones. Her parents looked totally peaceful besides the cuts and bruises in their faces with the deformation of their broken skulls. Izuru's corpse was the most and sent Hinamori into shrieking as there was a deep cut in his throat with pieces of glass stuck in it.

_'Why am I still alive?__ What did my parents and Kira do to deserve this__'_

The next few weeks were hell as they were all about treatment, getting better and over that, the worst… psychologists.

"Momo, I need you to look on the brighter side of things."

"What brighter side? There is NO brighter side to this! Are you saying that I should be glad that my parents and best friend are DEAD?"

"Calm down, Momo. Don't think about their deaths but think about the happy times you had with them… they're happy now… ok?"

"NO! I'm NOT okay!"

"Momo, how 'bout this? Tell me a happy moment you had with your best friend. I may have happened at school, home, a camp or-"

"The last dissection you did with a dead rat when you poked it's spleen out and put it in your teacher's desk!" Momo retorted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The psychologist sighed and got up from his chair and made his way to the door.

"Momo, I know this is hard but trust me, you'll have to get over this soon and start fresh! You're going to be living with your uncle starting the day after tomorrow…"

Hinamori's eyes widened at the sudden news.

_'I'm going to be staying at my uncle's house__I mean, it's __ov__er a gazillion times better tha__n this prison but… __so it's just so… sudden…"_

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_**SORRY… I KNOW IT'S SHORT BUT **__**I WAS ITCHING TO WRITE IT DOWN… **__**MOMO-CHAN'S **__**UNCLE**__** COMES TO PICK HER UP IN THE NEXT CHAPPY!**____**WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SHE MEETS **__**ONE OF HIS SHORT, INTELLEGENT WHITE-HAIRED FRIEND**___

_**…**_


	2. Waking up to reality

_**I'M WRITING THIS STRAIGHT AFTER THE FIRST CHAPPY SO YA…**_

…

Hinamori sat up in her hospital bed and scribbled random black and red messes in her paper diary with pens that she found on the doctor's desk. Every time a page ripped, she'd go onto the next one.

'_Today's the day Uncle Jushiro's coming to pick me up… he's probably gonna be like the others… probing me with all this crap called 'questions' and calling me 'emo' or 'goth' behind my back…'_

The girl sighed in both worry and frustration as she flipped to the next page to make a new mess. Her bags were packed next to her bed with her new clothes in there. She had to buy some new clothes a few days ago as firstly, she'd grown out of them and secondly, they were too colourful to "reflect" upon her emotions and life. She had her hair out and with the long bangs covering her eyes, a black hood jacket, black and white chucks with a black shirt saying, "love can't save you".

'_I can't believe that I thought that stupid red shirt saying "Drop knowledge, not bombs" was actually __cute!'_

"Momo? Is that you?"

Hinamori didn't turn around to face her uncle but threw her diary onto the cold, tile floor.

"Whaddya want?" She turned her head so that she was looking at her uncle now. No big changes. He still had long, flowing white hair that reached his thighs and he was just as pale as the last time she'd seen him. This time, his eyes were filled with pity… for her family, friend and herself.

"I'm meant to pick you up today."

"I KNOW!" Momo slammed her fist down onto the bed railing and slightly winced as pain rang through her fingers. She got out of her bed and pulled the hood of her hoodie over her head. The uncle immediately felt sympathy wash over him.

'_**She's not herself anymore…'**_

"Anyway, you ready?" Ukitake asked as he made his way to Momo's bags and lifted them up before walking to the door. The depressed girl just picked up her paper diary and followed him.

_**AT THE TRAIN STATION…**_

The frail man and his orphaned niece got out of the taxi with their luggage and made their way to the train station. According to her uncle, Momo was going to move from her home in Ohio to a small town in the country that wasn't even marked on a map. They would take a four hour train ride before taking an hour's drive on a bus.

"Hey Toushiro!" Jyushiro called out before quickly turning to his niece. "Momo, that's Toushiro! I forgot to introduce him to you in the taxi but from now on, you two'll grow up a lot together."

The girl's eyebrow tilted at how wrong that sounded.

"If you know what I mean…"

"Forgot the person who lives next door to your room, huh?" A white-haired boy with deep, turquoise eyes patted the uncle on the back. He was around an inch taller than Hinamori was (I changed this).

The orphan's eyes grew wide. Was he?

_**FLASHBACK…**_

"_**HONEY! THERE'S A BOY ON THE ROAD!" Mrs. Hinamori yelled out as Mr. Hinamori quickly swerved to the right to dodge the child. He looked just about Momo and Kira's age with stunning eyes and white or silverish hair…**_

_**END FLASHBACK…**_

Without a thought, Hinamori's hand acted as if it had a life of its own and slapped the boy across the face.

Her uncle and the boy's eyes grew wide.

"Momo! What do you think you're doing?" Jyushiro scolded the girl but she grabbed the white-haired boy by the shoulders and started shaking him.

"WHY WERE YOU ON THE ROAD THAT NIGHT? WHY DID MY PARENTS HAVE TO DIE WITH MY BEST FRIEND JUST SO THAT YOU COULD LIVE? WHY? Why…" The girl fell to her knees, quivering. This was around the eighth time she'd burst out crying for her loved ones this week.

"What's she talking about, Ukitake?"

Hinamori's eyes widened at the question.

'_What am __**I **__talking about? He was the one on the road that night! I just know it!'_

She quickly got up onto her feet and started to walk towards her train.

"Hurry up or we'll be late." Was the last thing she said that afternoon.

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"Phew! We're finally here! It took bloody long enough…" Toushiro grumbled as he lifted Momo's luggage for her out of the taxi. She still wasn't talking to him yet.

'_That whole "one the road" thing… what the heck was that about?...'_

The girl stopped at the front gate and studied the place she was meant to call "home". It was a two story house with crème walls and a red tiled roof. Trumpet vines strangled the window shutters and by the looks of the practically never-ending fence that surrounded the property, it had a large backyard. Overall, it looked pretty friendly. A tin shed next to the house caught Momo's eyes. It looked big enough to just fit around five people in there.

'_I __REALLY __hope that's not an outhouse…'_

(A/N: An outhouse is a toilet that's set outside that has a hole in the ground instead of a cubicle)

"Hey! Bun-head! Come in or you'll get bitten by the mosquitoes!" Hitsugaya called out from the doorway. Momo trudged up to him and gave him a cold glare before saying the first thing that wasn't related to her parents to him.

"It's not Bun-head. It's Momo Hinamori, dickhead…"

The boy blinked.

'_Did she just call me __**dickhead**__?...'_

Hinamori took a look around her new room. It was large and airy with crème coloured walls and a smooth, timber floor. She opened the window and looked over the vineyards in the distance. The cool, summer night breeze carried the sweet aroma of grapes and filled the girl's nose.

'_I might not mind getting used to this… if only mum and dad were here… Kira… I'm so sorry!... I couldn't protect you…'_

The teenager sat on her bed and bunched up her fists as tears poured out of her eyes at the memories of her best friend and parents dying at what was meant to be an enjoyable celebration for her and Kira's middle school graduation.

"Momo? Can I talk to you?" Her uncle sat himself on her bed next to her. "I know how hard this is on you. I mean, I felt sad and shocked too. I mean, come on, my brother and his wife died. I was shattered! But you can't stay like this!"

"Yes I can." Hinamori grumbled and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Well… you can be who you want to be and we'll still love you and care for you, okay? Look, I utterly absolutely no idea of what the commotion at the train station was about with Toushiro but I at least want you to apologise to him, okay?"

"WHAT? (!)"

"I know, apologising isn't easy but he doesn't even know you as a friend yet! He also lives in this house with us so he's part of the family. It's just one word Momo, one word. Or you can extend that one word and open up… it's up to you."

With that, Ukitake left the room.

'_Did he memorise all that?...'_

Hinamori trudged downstairs to find the white-haired boy walking through the doorway, towel around his neck and beads of sweat dripping off his hair.

She walked up to him so that her eyes could bore into his. It had taken her at least two hours in her room to decide this but her uncle wanted her to do it.

'_It's just one word Momo… one word…'_

"I-I'm… sorry…" With that, the girl turned around o run upstairs when she felt a warm hand grab her shoulder.

"For what?"

"For slapping you and calling you a… dickhead…"

'_What's with this "Toushiro" dude… is he screwin' with me?...'_

"Oh THAT! Hmph. It's okay but I forgot it already… it's not like I'm gonna hold a grudge coz of that!"

'_Wha?...'_

Momo nodded and walked herself upstairs.

'_For somewhat reason, I get a feeling that living here's gonna be interesting…'_

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Momo woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing its feathered ass off. Or that was what she called it that morning.

'_DAMN IT! It's 5am! On a Sunday too!...'_

She rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the window before flinging them open and shouting, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! STUPID ROOSTER!"

The rooster kept on crowing. The girl patiently waited for the feathered freak to stop crowing but-

'_That is __**IT**__!'_

Hinamori grabbed one of her chucks and threw them at the damned bird. The shoe hit the bird on the side, shutting it up but fell down and also hit something else. More like someone else.

"Argh! Shit! WTF? Who was that?" A familiar voice yelled. Momo then realised that she was living at her uncle's house from now on. Not home. And DEFINITELY not a hospital. She quickly slammed the window shutters shut and leaned herself against them.

'_Shit… Did I hit him in the head?...'_

"YOU! All I was doing was milking the one-and-only cow on our farm and you just had to throw your… Converses at me?" A flared-up Hitsugaya stormed into the room with a bruise on the right side of his forehead and threw the chuck at a wall.

"It was an accident! The bloody rooster wouldn't shut up!"

"You didn't have to throw your shoe at me!"

"I said it was an accident!"

"FINE! Geez…"

Toushiro walked out of the room, rubbing his head. Momo could just barely hear him murmuring, "Talk about a slug…" underneath his breath.

"Oh, shut up! Penis breath!"

"What did you just call me?" The farm boy turned around and before they knew it, him and Hinamori were arguing… with A LOT of swearwords…

"Dick-face!"

"Bitch!"

"Dick-less!"

"Ass-hole!"

The two didn't notice that they were at yelling volume until they saw a figure standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Ahem!" Ukitake broke up the fight without even having to pull them apart. "How 'bout Toushiro finishes milking the cow and then we apologise to each other about this over breakfast!"

He didn't have to say anything else before the two teenagers went back to what they were doing.


	3. Drowning

_**HEY GUYS, THANKS TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED COZ I REALLY APPRECIATE IT…**_

…

_**DISCLAIMER: I DUN OWN BLEACH...**_

"Okay now," Ukitake began. "There are two options, you can both apologise to each other here or do some chores as a punishment for waking the neighbours to a colourful stream of swearwords. Which one?"

Momo stopped prodding her pancakes with her knife and shoved the plate away from her. Toushiro didn't do anything as he'd already finished eating the pancakes around five minutes ago. The two teenagers glared into each other's eyes icily. You couldn't see Hinamori's eyes due to her hair but you could tell she was glaring back at the farm boy.

"Sorry," She managed to spit out sourly.

"Me too."

"Now, shake hands!" Ukitake ordered and ended up being stared at by two pairs of widened eyes. "Ahem!"

The two sighed before giving each other a half-hearted hand shake and stormed off.

"Ah! Momo, can you come back here for a sec?"

Hinamori returned to the table and plonked herself on a chair in front of her uncle.

"What?"

Ukitake waited until Toushiro exited the house before looking around hesitantly.

'_Why's he being so hesitant?...'_

"Momo, as you know, Toushiro lives with us."

"Yea, so what?"

"He knows about your parents and-"

"Your point is?!"

'_God… what's the point of this stupid meeting?...'_

"He hasn't got any either…"

Momo froze. The farmboy that never really lost it (except for when she threw her shoe at him) was an orphan too? Jyushiro could tell that she was more interested in the conversation now.

"I shouldn't really tell you this because it's unfair to him but… He had a family like you too. Except, he-"

"UKITAKE!" The two turned around to see a fuming boy in the doorway. He grabbed the frail man by the shoulders. "I thought we agreed that _**I **_would tell her when I was ready!"

"Sorry Toushiro…"

Hitsugaya turned around and stormed off.

'_What's going on?... k… he's an orphan but he has a hard time opening up… yup… that's gotta be it…'_

Hinamori followed him outside to see him throwing stones across a lake. She sighed at the view. The lake stretched out for miles but the shores were visible. The crystal clear water reflected the sky and gently rippled at the gentle caresses by the summer breezes. It was so nice here…

"Sorry for yelling at you guys before like that…"

Momo turned around to see Toushiro looking down at his feet. She tried to read the emotions in his eyes. Rage, sadness, confusion, regret… there was so many…

"Nah, it's okay… you have rights…"

The boy smiled as he plonked himself on the ground and motioned the girl to come sit next to him. The teenager walked over and sat next to her companion. The wind blew the stray bangs out of her eyes. She squinted. The world seemed… brighter without the hair in her eyes.

Toushiro turned around and his eyes widened when they met Momo's deep, coffee-coloured ones.

'_Her eyes… they're so sad… WAIT! I ain't no emotional chick!...'_

Hinamori soon noticed that Hitsugaya was gazing into her eyes and quickly turned away, her bangs falling into her eyes again. When she turned around to look at the lake again, she stood up and walked towards a little wharf that reached around twenty-five to fifty metres. It looked so… naturally calming.

The girl took off her shoes and socks before rolling up her jeans and touched the water with her feet, dunking them in a little more at a time. A sudden chill went up her spine. The water was so frosty!

"I WOULDN'T DO THAT! THERE ARE HUGE EELS IN TH-"

"WA!"

_**SPLASH!**_

Before Hitsugaya could finish his sentence, Momo'd fallen in from surprise of the sudden yelling. She lost balance and tilted sideways before falling into the freezing aqua world. He was right… there WERE eels… big ones too… she couldn't tell if where they were as there she was tangled in a giant kelp forest. However, the female could tell that they were there by shadows. They were moving closer… and closer… her heart stopped when she caught sight of one…

Their beady eyes pierced the frightened girl as they showed off their spiky rows of sharp teeth, swishing through the water towards her. It was around two metres in length. And looked angry. She tried to swim away but her foot was tangled. Badly. And she was running out of breath.

'_Shit…'_

_**SPLASH!**_

Hundreds of air bubbles floated towards the surface, tickling Momo's chin on the way up, as a new figure entered the water.

'_Toushiro…'_

He quickly gave Hinamori an assuring nod before swimming downwards and ripping the kelp around her ankle apart with his hands. Momo instantly felt a decrease of pressure that was tied on her ankle. She immediately floated to the top but Hitsugaya wasn't following…

The girl looked down and her eyes widened in horror as she saw her white-haired saviour, trying to fight off the eel from before, which was now keeping its sharp jaws shut on his foot. He yelled out in pain, releasing the air bubbles from his mouth when the creature yanked on his foot, leaking blood around the water. Before she knew it, the saw the eel dragging its victim through the kelp forest, out of her sight.

"PA!" Momo quickly gasped for air when she broke through the surface. She quickly blinked the water out of her eyes before jumping out of the water and running towards the house. Her legs were taking her there as fast as she can. She could see her uncle washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"UNCLE! UNCLE! TOUSHIRO JUST FELL INTO THE LAKE!"

"He can swim…"

"NO! EELS ARE **ATTACKING **HIM!"

"Oh God…"

The uncle quickly ran outside of the house and sped towards the lake. Despite his fragile body, he was a pretty fast runner…

Hinamori stopped running when she saw a figure on the wharf in the distance. It was on all fours.

'_Toushiro…'_

She kept on running and started panting as she got closer to the boy on the wharf. He was holding an eel's head in his hand and his leg was severely bleeding. Ukitake stopped in front of the boy before stepping back in sudden disgust.

"Oh no…"

'_What's gotten into uncle?... How did Toushiro break the eel's head off its body when he was in such a state?...'_

"Retarded eel… Retarded lake… Retarded ankle…" The boy looked over at Momo before hobbling up to her.

"Tou-"

SLAP…

"If you can't swim, stay away from water… you're just being a burden on everyone else…"

Both Hinamori and Jyushiro's eyes widened at Hitsugaya's cold saying. Despite his cold exterior, this language just… wasn't like him…

"You **will **switch back this time right? I don't want you causing this boy any more trouble…" Ukitake growled as he squeezed the boy's shoulder.

'_His eyes… they're different…'_

Tears started to swell in Momo's eyes. Tears of anger, sorrow, regret, guilt and much more emotions.

"I'm sorry! I CAN swim! It's just that-"

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_**SOZ… I HAD TO END THE CHAPPY HERE AND MAKE IT A SHORT ONE… THE MYSTERY STARTS FROM THE NEXT CHAPPY… WHAT'S HIDDEN WITHIN THE DEPTHS OF HITSUGAYA'S SOUL?...**_

_**THANK YOU…**_

…


	4. The new side

_**HEY GUYS… A LOT OF REVIEWS SAID THAT THE LAST PART WAS CONFUSING… IT WAS MEAN TO BE COZ IF I JUST EXPLAINED EVERYTHING THERE, IT WOULD'VE GONE "plop" AND'VE RUINED THE BOMBSHELL THAT I'VE PLANNED… MUAHAHAHAHA!…**_

…

"I'm sorry! I CAN swim! It's just that-"

"That what? You couldn't rip a single strand of kelp?"

"Umm-"

"WHAT? You think about your stupid family and friend every couple of seconds and start crying?"

Momo's heart immediately drained itself from guilt and filled up with anger and sorrow from the mocking of her family and Kira. The tears left her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"Is that it? Huh? Then-"

_**THWACK!**_

Ukitake hit the boy on the back of his head, knocking him out of consciousness. He fell forward but before he could hit the ground, the uncle caught him and hauled him over his shoulder.

'_What's gotten into him? I haven't known him for long but… he's not like that… I just know it!...'_

The two (carrying Toushiro) both made their way back to the house. The wind blew, ruffling the trees and sending goosebumps up Momo's arm. The small tin shed (that Momo noticed from chapter 2) creaked a little but stayed stable.

"Uncle, is that an outhouse?" Hinamori asked, pointing at the shed. Jyushiro first looked at his niece for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing.

"No… In fact, I'm not really sure what's in there…"

"Then why don't you open it?"

"Because Toushiro's the only one to know where the key is… since he hid it…"

'_Why would he hide a key to a tin shed?...'_

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"Urgh… where am I?..." a soft groan came from the living room and Hinamori stopped her chores and rushed to where the boy laid. Her uncle wasn't there as he had some "important matters" to attend to.

Hitsugaya squinted and blinked a couple of times before grabbing his ankle in pain.

'_I can't remember a thing… no, wait… Momo fell into the water… the eel…'_

"Am I alive?"

"You apparently are!" Momo snapped back. She tried to brush off the things he'd said before but she just… couldn't. It was like a giant wall separating her from a city. It was almost impossible. Her fists tightened as she, without a thought, slammed her fist on a nearby table.

However, the girl didn't watch where her hand was going and it smashed a mug. The mug shattered into jagged pieces and a piece was sticking out of the side of Hinamori's hand. She winced before jerking the ceramic fragment out of her hand and pressing tissues onto her bloody injury.

"WOA! Take it easy! Uh, here," Hitsugaya grabbed some bandages off a nearby coffee table and started to wrap Momo's hand but she slapped it away. The boy put his hands on his waist. "What's wrong with you? I'm trying to help you here and you're acting as if I've bitten your finger off!"

"You really wanna know?"

"Actually, yes. I do wanna know."

"Oh? That I couldn't rip a single strand of kelp coz I kept thinking about my family and Kira every couple of seconds and start crying?!" The girl's voice was now yelling.

"I have _**NO IDEA **_of what the hell you're talking about!"

Hinamori froze and stared at him with wide eyes before storming up the stairs and into her room.

'_That bastard…'_

However, she stopped in front of her door and tears started to stream out of her eyes.

'_What if… he really DOESN'T remember anything?...'_

She slammed the door behind her and locked it as she took out her paper diary.

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The boy lay down on the sofa and began to dig through his memories.

'_K… Momo fell into the water… I jumped in to save her… taken by an eel… and I just woke up here… strange…'_

"You two'd better not be like that at school tomorrow," Ukitake walked in and sat himself on an armchair.

"Isn't it too early to be sending your niece to school already?"

"It's never too early to start afresh. It's probably best to keep her occupied so that she doesn't think about her loss."

"Hmmm… true…"

"So… you WILL tell her sometime, right? About your parents…"

"What choice do I have? We're both living in the same house… AND she could just find out by opening the tin shed so… she's gonna find out anyway…"


	5. First day of school

_**HEY GUYS! THANKS 4 THE REVIEWS! I APPRECIATE THEM SO MUCH! MY WRITING MIGHT BE A LITTLE DOWN COZ I'M CURRENTLY IN A STATE OF DEPRESSION SO YA…**_

…

Momo and Hitsugaya both trudged through the school gates. Despite the fact that this was the country, the school wasn't much different from schools in the city. Things weren't "old fashioned" but then again, teenagers were being more stereotypical than ever these days. Toushiro looked at the girl and sighed.

'_She's gonna be picked on… definitely…'_

It was easy to tell that he was right. Especially when Hinamori was wearing a cropped, dark purple hoodie on a tight, black shirt with a heart on it, ripped, black skinny jeans with chains hanging off, a studded belt with a broken heart as a buckle and her usual converse chucks. The boy was wearing… stuff? Just orange cargo jeans on a black "The Foo Fighters" band t-shirt and skate shoes.

'_Ukitake wouldn't be pleased if I stood back and let her get bullied…'_

The teen quickly walked over to the female and stuck to her side. Momo raised an eyebrow.

"You know, just coz I-"

"Yo! Toushiro!"

The two turned around to see a group of boys making their way towards them. There were only four boys in the group. One of the boys had bright, orange hair, intimidating, brown eyes and eyebrows that were formed into a scowl. The next boy had wild, red hair that was in a ponytail, brown hair and unique-looking, black tattoos. Another boy was bald with red make up on his eyes that gave him a murderous look. The last boy resembled the first boy a lot except he had black hair, a neck choker, a 69 tattoo on his left cheek and what appeared to be several scars going down the right side of his face. The red head looked at Hinamori and looked at Hitsugaya.

"Who's the emo chick? Don't tell me you're dating a-"

'_Stupid bastards…'_

Before the boy could finish his sentence, Momo marched off to the room that was meant to be her homeroom called 9D. She had to do Grade 9 for the next few weeks as the grade 9ers in this school still hadn't graduated to senior school yet. She entered the classroom and quickly dodged a piece of chalk that was thrown at her head which was followed by fits of laughter.

"That would've made her less black!"

"Hey! RACISM!"

"IT'S NOT RACIST IDIOT!"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' AN IDIOT!"

A fight started between two boys and others boys and a couple girls were around the wrestling two chanting, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

She just rolled her eyes made her way to an empty desk in the middle of the room before she felt a hand with sharp nails grab her shoulder and jerk her backwards. Momo turned around to see a girl with mysterious hazel eyes, a warm smile and had blonde hair that was pale enough to look white that came up to her slender hips. Taking another look, the grabber also had nails that looked like they were done by a professional. AKA, an explanation of the sharp pain in Hinamori's shoulder.

"This is **MY **seat, bi-atch!" the girl tinkled and plonked herself into the seat with an egoist manner that completely busted her angelic image.

"Such a waste of a pretty face…" Momo mumbled beneath her breath and started to walk to another seat.

"I heard that, BITCH! And NOBODY insults Paris Packerman!"

Momo raised an eyebrow.

'_Nobody insults Paris Packerman?... who describes themselves in third person and what's with the alliteration in her name?...'_

"Hey baby! What's goin' on?"

A boy that was at least two inches taller than Hinamori walked over to Paris and snaked his hands around her waist. He had dirty blonde hair that stuck out everywhere, striking, evergreen eyes and a muscular build. The slut turned around to meet her boyfriend and pouted in a seductive way.

"This new girl's bullying me!"

"Well, that's not a good way to start off school, is it?"

"So we'll be seeing her at lunch!"

The boy bit his girlfriend's bottom lip and smiled.

"Exactly."

The couple both left the new rookie to stay confused and find a new seat.

'_Wha?...'_

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Everything was going by REALLY fast that day. Minutes felt like seconds and hours felt like minutes. Hinamori was being occupied with a lot of activity but still had no friends. Probably because of her "image".

However, despite her depressed state, the teachers still liked her for her wide range of knowledge, open mind and silence. A few of the nerds and teachers' pets envied her for this but everything was smooth that day… until the lunch bell rang…

"Ok, everyone, your homework is to work more on your dissection report and get it done up to satisfactory standards by this Wednesday. You may all leave!" the teacher called before nearly being run over by the class dashing out the door like a herd of wild elephants. Momo just stuffed her things in her bag and trudged out of the classroom with her teacher smiling at her. She smiled back before slowly closing the door behind her.

The teen then made her way to the cafeteria. She could see Toushiro and his mates at the table near the very back. Her eyebrow raised when she saw the dude with the "69" tattoo on his cheek accidentally flick an olive from a pizza into the boy's white hair and frantically searching for it.

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'_Hisagi, that idiot…'_

Hitsugaya sighed as he slapped his friend's hand away from his hair and took the olive out. He could see Hinamori at the cafeteria door from the corner of his eye.

'_I wonder how she's doing… she doesn't look beaten up… no offence but I'm not surprised that she's got no friends yet…'_

The boy was about to turn around when he saw Paris Packerman's boyfriend grab her by her arms and drag her out of the cafeteria.

'_Huh?... she made friends with __**them**__?... but… they way they dragged her out of here… doesn't look too good… wasn't that Paris's bf?... SHIT!'_

Toushiro quickly got out of his seat and burst out of the cafeteria, despite his buddies calling him to come back.

"DAMN!"

Momo and Paris's bitches were gone! He looked at the hallways ahead of him, on the right side of him and on the left.

'_Which one, which one, which one?...'_

His eyes stopped on a small, black MP3 player on the floor on the hallway ahead of him. He picked it up, turned it on and put an earphone in to have a rupture of scream music enter his ears on full volume.

"SHIT! What the crap's this?... but it sounds like music that girl would listen to…"

Toushiro shoved the device into his pocket before dashing off into the hallway.

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"LET GO OF ME!" Momo yelled but the boys didn't listen to her and kept on dragging her by her arms. They stopped in front of the PE storage room.

'_Shit… this looks bad…'_

_**SOZ… I KNOW IT'S A SHORT CHAPPY BUT I JUST HAD 2 END IT THERE… I'LL UPDATE AS SOON AS I CAN… THANK YOU!...**_

…


	6. For a week?

_**MINA! I'M BACK FROM KOREA AND IT WAS… RANDOM BUT ANYWAY…. OMFG! I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE IN MY FICS, MY USB WENT IN MY GRANDMA'S WASHING MACHINE!...**_

…

Paris and the boys only cackled as they dragged Hinamori into the P.E storage room and locked the door behind them. Momo quickly squirmed herself out of the bullies' grasp and ran to the other end of the room. The gang only cornered in on her, smirks covering their lips.

"You know, I seriously think that you're just an attention seeker… I **hate **attention seekers!" Paris tinkled as to Momo's dismay, pulled out a pair of red scissors.

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Toushiro quickly ran down the hallway before coming to a split end. His skate shoes skidded to a halt as he quickly tried to decide which way the girl was taken. He looked to his right

'_k… Grade 10 classrooms, music rooms and toilets…'_

but then swivelled around to the left.

'_k… this way is the P.E storage room, nurse's office, principal's office, teacher's lounge and the counsellor's room…'_

The teenager quickly tried to make a decision before he heard a shriek coming from the P.E storage room.

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"What are you going to do with the scissors?" Momo quickly asked, backing away but only bumped into a shelf, knocking a few soccer balls off. The bulky males grabbed her arms so that she couldn't move anywhere.

Paris swiftly grabbed Hinamori's bangs and started to cut them, accidentally cutting the victim on the cheek. Momo gave out a surprised shriek and tried to escape her position but failed. She felt her head feeling lighter as her vision suddenly got sharper.

"Oh, such pretty coffee-coloured eyes…" The whore cooed as she ran the back of her hand down Hinamori's smooth cheek. Paris continued to snip the poor girl's bangs before she stopped and looked at her victim's outfit for the day. "Hm… emo wear… you've got a nice body… you should show it off more!"

With that, the bully made a long rip down one of the legs of Momo's skinny jeans.

"HEY! STOP IT!" Hinamori yelled but was only answered with a cackle.

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"HEY! STOP IT!"

The boy could hear the commotion going on in there and tried to open the door but it was locked.

'_That's it! I'm breaking the door down!'_

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Momo finally turned her head sideways and bit Paris's boyfriend on the arm.

"Fuck! Why, you bitch-"

_**SLAM!**_

Everyone in the room's attention switched to the P.E storage door laid on the floor. Then to the teenage boy in the doorway.

"Why are you here?" Paris's boyfriend spat as he eyed Toushiro in an annoyed look.

"Coz her uncle would kill me if she came home bald!"

"Oh, thank you!" Momo exclaimed with sarcasm, rolling her eyes. However, her sarcastic and I'm-so-sick-of-this-why-do-I-deserve-this expression changed to an expression filled with surprise when her saviour kicked Paris's boyfriend in the chest, making him fall backwards. This time, a tray of shot puts fell off the shelf, landing right next to Hinamori but not hurting her.

'_Woa… that was close…'_

Hitsugaya steadied himself for a fistfight as his bulky opponent regained his balance and marched right up to him. The enemy raised his fist and shot it forward but it was caught by Hitsugaya's hand but at the same time, Paris's boyfriend grabbed Hitsugaya by the front of his shirt and delivered a kick into his chest. The boy, being as small as he was, flew into the hallway into a wall of lockers.

"Seth! Baby, you okay?" Paris ran to her boyfriend's side but he pushed her off.

"Seth? So that's your name? I was wondering about that!" Toushiro panted as he steadied himself to continue fighting.

"You got game midget, you got game," Seth hissed and made his way to the boy. Toushiro raised his arm like he was going to deliver a punch but then kicked the foe in the crotch area, making him double over. Seth then raised his arm and swung it into Hitsugaya's face. Hard.

The boy fell to the floor with a bruised forehead and got up with a bloody nose. He wiped the blood on his arm and thwacked Seth across the face. Both boys then grabbed each other by their shirts and-

"Both of you! STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY!" A teacher with a black bun in her hair, brown eyes and ugly, red-painted nails rushed to the scene and pulled the boys out of each other's grasp. The teacher then turned to Paris and Momo, "You girls in the P.E storage room! Are you a part of this mess?"

Before Momo could answer, Paris butted in with fake tears streaming down her face, "No ma'am! Or at least I'm not! My boyfriend and I were taking a walk in the hallway when those two butted in and Toushiro started a fight with my bf! It was so… unfair! What did we ever do to them?"

Hinamori rolled her eyes and mentally groaned as Paris covered her face with one hand and laid her head on the teacher's shoulder, sobbing her "sorrows" away.

"My boyfriend couldn't help but get into the fight! It was for self-defence! I mean, look how beaten up he is!"

"Well then, you and your boyfriend are dismissed," the teacher concluded before pointing her fingers at Hitsugaya and Momo. "HOWEVER, you two are to be in the detention room for the rest of the day and we'll contact your guardians to see the principal right away! This is unacceptable behaviour!"

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The two teenagers sat in the spare detention classroom staring at the chalkboard while the teacher was watching them like a hawk.

'_Why do I deserve this?...'_

Momo mentally screamed in frustration and slammed her head on her desk.

"Ten minutes added to your detention time! Do NOT fall asleep in detention!"

"Sir, I wasn't falling aslee-"

"DON'T talk back to the teacher, now it's twenty minutes!"

'_OMFG…'_

The girl could see Toushiro glaring at her from across the classroom at his desk but she ignored him.

'_Twenty minutes can't be THAT bad…'_

She looked up to the clock on the wall before she mentally slapped herself. The clock read 1:49pm and school finished at 3:20pm and 20 more minutes onto that… was… 1hour and 51minutes… URGH…

'_I wonder how things are going with the principal and uncle… probably gonna be a long lecture when we get home… why is it like this on my first day?...'_

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"Momo, Toushiro, I'm VERY disappointed in the both of you! Momo, how could you do that on your first day and Toushiro, you should've known better!" Jyushiro was lecturing the two at the kitchen table at dinner as Hinamori'd predicted before. "Before I give you two your punishments, we'll have to get both of you cleaned up. Momo, we need to fix your hair and Toushiro... we'll get you icepacks…"

Hinamori and Hitsugaya both got up from the table to go to their rooms when-

"Oh, speaking of which, the principal suspended both of you for a week! Whilst then, you two are NOT allowed to leave this property without my permission!"

The two teenagers stopped in their tracks.

'_A week?...'_

'_I've been suspended for a week?...'_

'_How'_

'_am'_

'_I'_

'_meant'_

'_to'_

'_spend'_

'_an'_

'_entire'_

'_week'_

'_with'_

'_HIM!' __'HER!'_

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_**LOOK, I KNOW THIS CHAPPY SUCKED… I'LL TRY 2 MAKE THE NEXT ONE BETTER… THANKS 4 READING! AND THANKS 4 ALL THE REVIEWS SO FAR!...**_

…


	7. Sneak peek of the tin shed

_**HEY! LAST CHAPPY HAD A LOT OF BITCHINESS IN IT… I'LL TRY MAKE IT INTERESTING AS I CAN…**_

_**DISCLAIMER: FOR THE ??TH TIME, I DUN OWN BLEACH AND 4 THE FIRST TIME, I DUN OWN "THANX 4 THE MEMORIES" BY FALL OUT BOY…**_

…

"We're not allowed to leave this property for a week and we don't even have school. Urgh, what would the teachers think of me?" Hinamori moaned to herself as she closed her finished maths homework.

"And why would a girl like you worry about that?" Hitsugaya grumbled back as he threw a devoured apple into the bin.

"What do you mean by a girl like me?"

There was an awkward silence for the next few seconds before Hinamori decided to break the ice again.

"I can't take this anymore… god, why can't we tell anyone our side to yesterday's accident?"

"First of all, Paris would whine that you started it first and dig her way through the principal to have her own ways and eventually win, getting us into more trouble. And secondly, you dun wanna mess with her."

"Why? You were good with Seth yesterday?"

"Her dad's in the mafia and it's not like I wanted to get into a fistfight with a-"

"They have mafia in the country?"

"It's a little something called 'divorce' when your parents decide to live separately?"

"Oh…"

Momo ran the tips of her fingers on her uneven, zig-zagged fringe that Paris'd given her. On the other side of the room, Toushiro was tightening the bandages around his chest and shoulder-blades where he was thrown into the lockers. They didn't try to break the ice in the current awkward silence like they had before.

'_**One night and one more time,**_

_**Thanks for the memories,**_

_**Even though they weren't so great;**_

"_**He tastes like you only sweeter!"**_

_**One night, yeah and one more time,**_

_**Thanks for-'**_

Hitsugaya quickly answered his mobile phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Toushiro, is everything okay there?"

"Yea, why?"

"Did you two finish your homework?"

"Yeah… were you serious about the not-leaving-this-property thing?"

"Yes, that was a VERY serious matter. I'm shocked that a guy like you would do such a thing and let my niece get involved. It's just not like you guys at all."

"It's PROPERTY, right?"

"Mmhmm… I'll be back home in at least three to four hours, kay?"

"Yea, see ya."

"Bye!"

The boy stuffed his phone into the back pocket of his jeans and made his way towards the door.

"Hey, we're not allowed to leave!" Momo called, jumping up from her seat.

"Baka, we're not allowed to leave the property , not the house! The entire farm is our property…"

Hinamori sat in her chair, blushing. Why didn't she think of that before?

The girl ran upstairs into her room and shoved her school homework into her school bag. She then slammed open the window of her room to be met by the grape-scented breeze, once again. She was getting accustomed to this pretty well.

Hinamori stuck her head out of the window to get another breeze, caressing her face. She sighed and looked down to see Toushiro in front of the small tin shed from the other day.

_**FLASHBACK…**_

"_**Uncle, is that an outhouse?" Hinamori asked, pointing at the shed. Jyushiro first looked at his niece for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing.**_

"_**No… In fact, I'm not really sure what's in there…"**_

"_**Then why don't you open it?"**_

"_**Because Toushiro's the only one to know where the key is… since he hid it…"**_

_**END FLASHBACK…**_

The shed was open and the boy was…

'_Is he praying to something?...'_

She leaned out more to take a closer look. She couldn't tell what was in there but she knew that he was praying to something. He looked so sad.

_**FLASHBACK…**_

"_**Momo, as you know, Toushiro lives with us."**_

"_**Yea, so what?"**_

"_**He knows about your parents and-"**_

"_**Your point is?!"**_

"_**He hasn't got any either… I shouldn't really tell you this because it's unfair to him but… He had a family like you too. Except, he-"**_

"_**UKITAKE!" The two turned around to see a fuming boy in the doorway. He grabbed the frail man by the shoulders. "I thought we agreed that **__**I **__**would tell her when I was ready!"**_

"_**Sorry Toushiro…"**_

_**Hitsugaya turned around and stormed off.**_

_**END FLASHBACK…**_

'_How long are you gonna keep this up for?... Just let it out… Wha!... since when did I think stuff like this?...'_

Momo jumped up a little, her foot accidentally leaving the floor. Her body tilted forward as she felt herself starting to fall out of the window. She tried to scream but her voice wouldn't come out.

'_Crap…'_

However, the teenager's reflects acted quickly and she grabbed the windowsill. She looked down and gulped.

'_If I let go, it'd be at least a three to six metre drop… no, don't think about that…'_

Hinamori started to swing herself side to side, grabbing the windowsill with both hands now.

'_If I swing enough, I should be able to get my feet through the window… YES!'_

The girl's feet went through the window but not enough.

'_No!... I can't ask Hitsugaya for help or he'll think I'm an idiot… wait… who cares what he thinks of me?... it's not like I LIKE him or anything?... I dun know him enough to do that… wait, where did the last part come from?...'_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hitsugaya closed the door to the tin shed and was about to lock it when he heard a 'thud' at least a few metres away from him from the left. He turned his head to the left but saw nothing until he looked up and saw Momo hanging from the window of her room.

"MOMO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

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'_Wait… I __might __be able to do this without his help… I just have to-'_

"MOMO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Toushiro's voice boomed, scaring the female and making her hands lose their grip on the window sill. Her back fell against the wall, making her try to scrunch up in pain but it made her feet slip out of the window instead.

'_Shit…'_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boy started to run towards the female that hung from the window but her feet slipped out and she started to fall.

'_Shit…'_

He quickly sprinted towards the falling teenager as fast as his legs could take him. Momo was at least only two metres off the ground now, still falling.

'_Crap, CRAP, CRAP! I won't make it in time!... unless…'_

Hitsugaya quickly leapt forward with his stomach upwards and his arms spread out so that he could catch the girl but to his dismay, she landed on his stomach.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"ARGH!" Momo yelped as she landed on her saviour's stomach. She fell back at the contact, making her head fall onto his chest. "Urgh… that hurt…"

"Say that to the one who sacrificed his stomach…"

"Sorry, thanks for breaking, OW! My… fall…"

The two sat up at the same time, making it look as if Hinamori was sitting in Toushiro's lap and their faces were dangerously close. The girl started to go red in her cheeks and-

"Uh-hum…" The teenagers turned to see Ukitake with his eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. "And what is the meaning of this?"

"It's not what it looks like!" Momo and Hitsugaya both blurted out at the same time.

"Toushiro, I will not let it slide if you try anything with her!"

"Wha?..."

"I was kidding! Now you two get inside…"

Hinamori stood up first, followed by Hitsugaya who walked towards the tin shed and was about to lock it.

"Toushiro, what's in there?"

"NOTHING!"

"Doesn't really look like it…"

Momo followed the boy and quickly caught a glimpse of what was inside the shack. A family photo. Hitsugaya looked at least eight years old. A smile took over her lips but it faded quickly.

'_Why are there two Toushiro's in the photo?...'_

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_**THANKS 4 READING!... SOZ 4 LEAVING IT THERE BUT I JUST HAD TO… HEHEHE…**_

…


	8. We need to talk

_**HELLU!... THE LAST CHAPPY HAD A KINDA BOMBSHELL 2 IT, NE?... LAWL… THNX 4 THE REVIEWS! AS ALWAYS…**_

…

'_Why are there two Toushiro's?...'_

Hinamori looked at the photo then back at the boy standing next to her then back to the photo again just to check if she was thinking the right thing. The boys in the photo. They looked so happy. Well, annoyed since they were quite playfully pulling each other's cheeks but happy.

"Did you have a twin, Toushiro?" Momo looked at the boy who was now filled with sorrow and still grabbing onto the door to the tin shed.

"Ah…"

"Am I meant to take that… as a yes?..."

"…"

"Toushi-"

"What do you think? We used photoshop?" The boy answered in an angsty tone before taking a shaky breath and opening the shed door wider (to Momo's surprise) so that she could clearly see the photo. It was of a family of four. Hitsugaya's mum had flowing, white hair, cherry red lips and warm, brown eyes and creamy skin. His dad had brown hair, a small goatee and stunning turquoise eyes.

'_Hmph… you could see where Toushiro's features come from…'_

"Your mum's really beautiful…"

"DON'T say that!" Hitsugaya yelled, his fists bunching up, making his knuckles go white. He slammed the tin shed shut. Regret was washing all over his mind. Regret for showing the girl a piece of his tormented childhood. "You never had a right to say that and you never will!"

"What's your problem? I was only-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WENT THROUGH!"

The last outburst silenced Hinamori, freezing her to the core. 'Toushiro' looked away and mentally punched himself for giving himself away.

"What do you mean? He went through? I don't know what you've been through but I don't get you at all! One minute, the eels are taking you down in the lake and the next minute, you come out of the lake as if it was a fight with a preschooler! Then, you call me a burden and mock my family and friend before passing out and not remembering a thing! Now, you're describing yourself in third person! The last time I saw that was the last encounter I had with Paris Packerman!"

"Your point is?..."

"One second, you're like the Toushiro Hitsugaya I met at the train station and the next second, you're like a completely different person! I face it, he may not be all milk and honey but… I just can't explain it! Why do you change so much in matters of split seconds? I don't get anything!"

"Hmm… It took a while for Ukitake to figure it out and takes a while to actually figure out when I'm being me but you're picking this up quite quickly… education these days must be much more advanced than it was in his teenage days, heh?..."

The frustrated girl ran her hand through her brown hair and let out a long sigh.

'_Hmph… one second, he's living like there's no troubles in the world then the next second, he's Mr Antarctica… it's like two people… in… one… body… NO! Momo Hinamori, you'll be damned if you jump to such conclusions again!... but I can't help it, DAMMIT! No matter how ridiculous or inaccurate this may sound…'_

"Are you a split personality?"

"HA!... Now, I wonder… ne?..."

The boy ran his finger down Hinamori's jaw line, sending shivers down her spine and making her step back a little. He pushed her against the door of the tin shed, arms on either side of her and whispered into her ear, "I don't think he knows of my existence…"

Momo's heartbeat raced and a deep blush filled her cheeks. His breaths on neck were too… intimate… way too intimate for her liking. Her mind quickly tried to find a way to escape the uncomfortable situation but the weather seemed to solve her problem.

_**PIT…PAT…PIT…PAT…**_

First were the few drops of water that fell from the sky, which were followed by the downfall of a million rain drops, soaking the two to the skin.

"W-w-we're gonna get wet if we don't go inside!"

With that, Hinamori shoved 'Hitsugaya' off herself and ran into the safe zone of her uncle's house.

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To Ukitake's suspicion and surprise, the lunch flew by silently. No arguments. No bickering or quarrelling. Just silence that was occasionally interrupted by the sounds of chewing.

"Did something happen between you two?"

"What happened to three to four hours?" Toushiro quickly asked to change the topic but in a character that was totally unlike him. Maybe like… Hinamori couldn't quite describe it. It was tinted with nervousness yet had a boldness to it…

"I was meant to meet someone but it was cancelled…"

"Who?"

"Why are you asking these questions?"

"Is it someone… special?"

"NO, I was not on a date!"

"I never said you were going on a date!"

"You were implying it…"

"You got dumped! Am I right? HAHAHA!!!"

The teenage boy burst out laughing and jumped onto his feet, knocking his chair over. Jyushiro just stared at his housemate's absurd behaviour with widened eyes.

'_WOA!... STOP THE HORSES!... THIS IS COMPLETELY UNLIKE HITSUGAYA AND IF IT CONTINUES, THIS COULD BE __**BAD**__…'_

Hinamori quickly forced out a fake giggle, "No, we're serious uncle! You need to find a girlfriend before it's too late!"

With that, the girl quickly rushed to the other side of the table and dragged Toushiro by his hair to the staircase.

"GOCHISOSAMA!"

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"Ouch! Let. Me. Go, bitch!" Hitsugaya struggled beneath the grasp on his hair as Hinamori slammed the door shut.

"Bitch? I just saved us both from trouble!" Momo quickly let go of the boy's hair. "We need to talk!"

"I hate those words… what ya wanna talk about anyway?..."

"I have questions! But we can't talk about them here!"

Re-enforcing her clasp on the boy's hair, the female slid her closet open and pushed him in before entering it herself and sliding the door shut again.

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_**THANK U 4 READIN'! IT'D BE AWESOME IF U REVIEW! THNX 4 ALL THOSE WHO DID REVIEW, YOU GUYS ROCK MY WORLD!... WWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! PANCAKES AND WAFFLES 4 EVERYONE!...**_

…


	9. In the closet

_**SOZ 4 THE SHORT CHAPPY PEOPLEZ!... LAWL… THNK U 2 THOSE WHO REVIEWED!... **_

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: IN THE LAST CHAPPY, A LOT OF REVIEWS TALKED ABOUT A "SCHIZOPHRENIC" TOUSHIRO… THERE'S A LARGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER… SCHIZOPHRENIA'S WHEN A PERSON'S ABUSRDLY PARANOID AND SUFFERS HALLUCINATIONS (OFTEN IN THE FORM OF VOICES) AND STARTS TO TALK TO AND ANSWER THEMSELVES… SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER IS WHEN THERE ARE MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES WITHIN' ONE PERSON…

_**THANK YOU!**_

…

Momo got her cellphone out of her school bag and turned the light on, filling the cramped space with a bright blue glow. Toushiro leant in closer to the girl so that he could have some of the light too.

"Is this a game of seven minutes in heaven?…"

"It's not! This is a serious case!"

"Like you're ever serious…"

"Mou… I'm trying to help Hitsugaya here!"

The boy sighed before shifting his position so that his legs were leaning on the door of the closet with his head resting on Hinamori's lap. Awkwardness from the current position the two were in gave Momo a loss for words. She could've pushed him off and complained about personal space but she let it slide.

'_This is __NOT __Hitsugaya Toushiro… this is… does he have a name?...'_

"Do you have a name?"

"Call me whatever you want…"

"That's too long!"

"I meant call me anything you wanna… I dun really care…"

Hinamori blushed a deep red from the embarrassment before letting out a small "Hmph!" and crossing her arms across her chest.

"F-fine!... I'll call you… SHIRO-CHAN!"

"Wha?..."

"I think it's cute!"

"Like the dudes on your posters!"

"What's wrong with having posters in your room? Don't diss them!"

"Well, I just did!" The newly named "Shiro-chan" propped himself onto his elbows before turning his head and planting a small kiss on the girl's cheek. Momo's cheeks were now nearly burning as her brain whizzed to take in what'd just happened.

'_GAWD, this isn't helping at ALL! It's turning into a game of seven minutes in heaven!...'_

"W-w-well… I need to know what happened to Toushiro's family to know why you're here!"

Shiro's teasing face suddenly faded out like a light and was replaced with one full of grave seriousness. His eyes became half-lidded and he laid his head back on Hinamori's lap, releasing a long sigh.

"It'd be unfair for me to tell you."

"Is it that serious?... You can't tell me just even a tiny bit?..."

"You already know about this more than his friends do by just knowing that he had a twin…"

"A twin, huh?... What was his name?"

"I think it was Akiko?... yea, it was Akiko…" (A/N: I named his twin Akiko coz I read this thing on a website where it said that it means snowchild but it also means bright… or something like that… Hehehe)

"Isn't that a girl's name?"

"These days, there are guys out there named Megumi…" (A/N: That's really true…)

"Ah…"

Curiosity started to stab the girl in the guts as she sighed and rested her head on the wall behind her.

'_Mou! THIS ISN'T HELPING AT ALL!... How come nearly every conversation I have with Toushiro turns into an argument and is taken seriously but every time I try to have a serious conversation with Shiro-chan, no, SHIRO, it always turns out like this!... He's toying with me!…'_

"You sure you can't tell my anything?"

"The only people that know everything about this are Toushiro, Ukitake, me, his lawyer, the police, government and maybe a few grown ups in this town that read the newspaper… they probably didn't realise the articles were about Toushiro…"

"Articles?"

"OK! I've said enough now! Adios! We shall meet again, fair maiden!"

"What?"

The boy didn't get a chance to give the girl a goodbye kiss as sleep blacked him out of consciousness. His heavy head fell back onto the female's lap.

"Mou…" Momo buried her face in her hands and breathed slowly in shaky breaths. "That didn't help AT ALL!..."

"What didn't?"

"Wha! You're awake?... H-huh? Hehehe…"

"Why are we in the closet?"

"Long story!"

"Whatever, I wanna get out of here…"

Hitsugaya, not realising that his head was on his housemate's lap, got up and tried to slide the door open but only a small "clank" could be heard as the door refused to open. The male shook the door again and tried to slide it open again but it still had the same "clank" sound.

"Dammit! It's jammed!"

"What? That can't be!... UNCLE!"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Calling for help… why, you got a problem?"

"Imagine this… k, you come home and see your housemate with your niece in his lap with their faces dangerously close then you hear your niece yelling for help and come upstairs and they're both in the closet!"

"Oh… but I wasn't yelling!"

"You were raising your voice…"

"So I wasn't yelling!"

"Does that make a difference?"

"YES! IT DOES! MOU, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS-"

"You're yelling right now…"

"…"

_**THUMP, THUMP, THUMP…**_

"Momo, you okay?"

The two in the closet both froze at the sound of Ukitake ascending the wooden staircase and walking into Hinamori's room. The two quickly tried to hold their breaths but it still didn't change their current situation. They could hear the threatening footsteps getting closer and closer to their current situation.

Panic sent shivers down her spine and goosebumps on her arm. She could even feel something tickling the back of her neck.

'_GAWD, I'm imagining things!... wait, there it is again! The tickling at the back of my… oh, crap!'_

"ARGH! There's a spider in my shirt!"

"WHA?"

"Momo! You in there?"

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_**SOZ 4 THE SHORT CHAPPY, I'M BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND ALL THAT NOW THAT THE HOLIDAY'S OVER SO YA… THNKS 4 READIN'! REVIEW PLEASE…**_

…


	10. Back to school

_**HELLU!... UMMA, SOZ 4 THE LATE UPDATE…**_

_IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: IN THE LAST CHAPPY, TOUSHIRO'S TWIN WAS AKIKO… I WAS REMINDED IN A REVIEW SAYING THAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE YUKIKO (MEANING SNOW CHILD) SO I CHECKED UP IT ON THE INTERNET AGAIN TO FIND OUT THAT I MADE THE STOOPID MISTAKE OF GETTING AKIKO AND YUKIKO MIXED UP… I'M SO VERY SORRY AND NOW, WE CAN CARRY ON WITH TOUSHIRO'S TWIN BEING YUKIKO INSTEAD OF AKIKO… URGH, THEY SOUND SO SIMILAR… THIS IS SO EMBARASSING! ARGH!..._

…

Hinamori sighed as she trudged through the long, narrow, locker-lined halls of her new school again.

'_Urgh… let the teachers have mercy on me today! PLEASE!...'_

The girl breathed in deeply and opened the door to her classroom and stepped in, pretending to not notice all of the stares and snickers that were being thrown at her by her classmates. She made her way to her seat and dropped her book bag to the floor, dumping herself in her chair. Luckily, class hadn't started yet so she wasn't stared at by her teacher as well. Looking at the other teens' books on their desks, the next class seemed to be Chemistry.

"So? Did our little peachy have a nice week?" Paris sang out, smirking as she was poured with the glory of the class laughing along with her at her insult. Momo just rolled her eyes and slammed her books onto her desk. Annoyed by the lack of reaction, Paris got out of her seat and sat on Hinamori's desk, picking up a tube of liquid paper.

"Well, I could see you got a new haircut! It shows off your eyes, a LOT cuter!"

It was true. On the second day of suspension, the brunette did get a new haircut to fix the mess the slut had given her. Instead of a long bangs and fringe that covered the top half of her eyes, the girl now had a shorter fringe with bangs that only cascaded the sides of her face. Her hair was much less of a burden now as she could see better, it only reached her shoulders and everyone was able to see her face.

"Hey! I asked you a fucking question! If I ask you a question, you give an appropriate response!" Packerman finally snapped and poured the white liquid out of the tube, onto Hinamori's jeans. Momo jumped out of her seat and looked down at the mess, then back at Paris.

"I warned you!"

Hinamori opened her mouth to say something but stopped when the teacher stepped into the classroom. She had short, black bob hair, red horn-rimmed glasses and a bony frame. Her nails were painted cherry red and threatened to give out under the weight of the teacher's heavy books. On her ID tag was her name, "Margaret Ramasy."

The woman started to call the roll but stopped at a name when nobody replied to it.

"Toushiro Hitsugaya? Is Mr Hitsugaya here?"

Nobody responded, leaving the teacher to mark him absent and move onto the next name.

"Christopher Is-"

_**SLAM!**_

The door crashed open, revealing a panting white-haired male who rushed into the classroom.

"Sorry, ma'am. Had to run home for my books."

Ms Ramasy raised an eyebrow, not fully convinced with the excuse.

"So you left your books at home, then ran back to get them?"

"Yes."

"Okay…" The lady let it slide and fixed the "A?" mark next to the boy's name. Toushiro sat behind Hinamori and leaned over, handing her a pile of books.

"What's this?"

"You took my books to school, so I thought I left them at home but I only found your books when I got there!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Whatever, just-"

"THE TWO AT THE BACK! PAY ATTENTION!" The teacher screeched, breaking the conversation of whispers between the two teens who immediately swapped their books and looked at the blackboard again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So the formula for heat energy, as revised was mC Delta-T! (A/N: The triangle Delta sign doesn't work… I think… but anyway…) Therefore, laddi-daddi-laddi-daddi-bloody-la!"

Hitsugaya was sure that the last bit wasn't what the teacher'd actually said but sometimes, boredom took control of his ears when all she was explaining was crap that he already knew. The boy looked around the classroom, his eyes stopping on a white stain on Hinamori's jeans. Out of curiosity, he ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote "Wat happened 2 ur jeans? T.H" before scrunching it up and throwing it onto the girl's desk.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Momo's eyelids began to drop as the struggled to keep her head up. The teacher's voice sounded like it was recorded then played a million times slower. She could feel her head dropping when…

Hinamori suddenly perked up when she felt something hit her hand. The girl looked down to see what it was to find a piece of scrunched paper. She carefully took it into her hands and smoothed the note out.

"Wat happened 2 ur jeans? T.H"

'_T.H would probably be Toushiro Hitsugaya…'_

The brunette grabbed her pen and scribbled, "A result of Paris getting her hands on liquid paper…" and dropped it on the floor behind her nearby Hitsugaya's feet. The boy picked the note up and read it before scribbling a message on it again and doing the same procedure as before.

Hinamori read the second memo, "Meet me in front of the cafeteria at lunch."

'_What would he want in front of the cafeteria?...'_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Momo walked up to a waiting Toushiro in front of the cafeteria as instructed on the note soon as the bell signified the time for lunch. She could see his refreshingly reckless white hair sticking out of the crowd. The girl made her way to her companion.

"And why did you call me here?"

"This is-" The boy suddenly stopped short and looked around as he was searching for something. He turned back to Hinamori. "Wait a sec! OI! MATSUMOTO!"

Momo followed her housemate's eyes which set onto a girl who looked at least two to three years older than them. She had strawberry blond hair that reached her hips, bright, blue eyes and massive breasts that bobbed up and down with every movement she made. She turned around and waved at the two.

"Yea! Just wait!" The girl sang as she shoved her way through the crowd before finally reaching the two teenagers in front of the cafeteria.

"Oi, if I ask you to wait somewhere, don't just go off wandering to someplace else." Hitsugaya scolded before turning back to Hinamori.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"NO!"

"Fine, fine! So uptight!"

"Shaddap!"

"I'm Rangiku Matsumoto! Nice to meet you!"

Rangiku pulled Momo into a tight hug before finally letting go.

"Momo… Hina… Mori!" Hinamori managed to pant out before asking, "Toushiro, why did you call us here?"

"Oi, Matsumoto! Do you think you can fix her jeans?"

"YES! YES! YES! YES! They're a mess!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Momo watched Rangiku fix her jeans as she pulled the towel around her waist tighter.

"So…" Matsumoto tried to start a conversation. It was really rare for her to be stuck in an awkward silence so she wasn't very good around them. "Is Toushiro your boyfriend?"

"NO! He isn't! We just… both live with my uncle…"

"So how come I've never seen you before?"

Rangiku's voice muffled as she was holding a needle with thread through it in her mouth. The busty, young woman could see Hinamori's face sadden and regretted asking but her curiosity only grew at the thought.

"My parents and best friend died in a car crash after me and my friend graduated… we were going to go somewhere to celebrate but a boy… he looked exactly like Toushiro… I know it can't be him but it's driving me insane!"

The girl's eyes gave out and poured tears as her voice started to quiver. She stopped talking and breathed in and out in slow, shaky breaths.

Matsumoto finished her last stitch before tying it off. The female leaned towards the crying girl and embraced her in her bosom.

"Honey, we both need to have lunch, my shirt is getting wet and you need to put some pants on!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seriously, how long does it take to fix a pair of jeans?..." Hitsugaya grumbled beneath his breath as he checked his watch, leaning on the door to the girls' bathroom.

"Ew! What's that pervert doing in front of the girls' bathroom?"

"Maybe he's gonna go in!"

"As if he would!"

Toushiro lifted his head up to realise that passer-byers were mumbling about him and staring. Then again, if there was a guy who stood in front of the girls' bathroom for nearly half an hour, it wasn't wa surprise that they'd be expecting suspicions. The boy sighed and was about to leave when-

"Rangiku! I can't wear thi- ARGH!"

The next thing Toushiro knew, he was face flat on the ground with something warm and heavy on top of his back. It took him a while to realise it was none other than Momo, who was now getting up and rubbing a sore spot on her head.

"Urgh… that hurt…"

"It'd hurt less if you got off my back…"

"Wha? SORRY!"

The girl quickly jumped off her housemate's back before helping him up.

"Geez, you're such a klutz-"

Hitsugaya was stopped short when he actually noticed the change in his housemate's outfit. The red skinny jeans she was wearing that morning was cut off to at least three quarters up her thigh and had a black heart stitched onto it. Her black and white striped blouse was now unbuttoned with a white tank top and red necktie beneath it. Her black and white polka-dotted converse shoes matched the outfit very cutely.

"Ummmaa…" Momo started, feeling uneasy with all of the stares she was receiving from everyone in the hallway and not to mention, Toushiro. "Does it look weird?"

"N-no! Not at… all!"

"Really?... That's… ummmaa… a relief! Hehehe…"

_**RRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

"Shit, me missed lunch!"

The three ran off to their classes with Matsumoto running off in one direction, Hitsugaya, and Hinamori running off in another. The two stopped in front of their next class, music, panting. The boy opened the door for the girl but grabbed her shoulder as she was about to walk in.

"You should dress like that more. It suits you."

With that, Toushiro quickly marched into class, leaving a flustered Momo in the doorway, blushing.

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**_HELLU!... SOZ! UMMA, I KNOW THIS DIDN'T REALLY MOVE THE STORY ALONG AND IT WAS KINDA CORNY _****_BUT IT'S NOT THAT EASY TO GET TO THE CLIMAX AND GET A RELATIONSHIP GOING SO YA… IT'D BE NICE IF U COULD REVIEW! THNKS 4 READIN'!..._**

…


	11. He's here

_**OKAY! HEY GUYS! THANKS 4 THE REVIEWS ON THE LAST CHAPPY! HEHEHE… ENJOY!...**_

Toushiro, Momo and Jyushiro sat at the dinner table, nothing but the sounds of munching to be heard. Hinamori and Hitsugaya'd both just finished their homework so they didn't change out of the clothes that they wore at school today.

The white haired prodigy's blue-green eyes looked across the table at the brunette. The clothing that Matsumoto had fixed changed her image. A lot. People didn't recognise her when they returned to class and Paris looked slightly jealous.

'_How to say this… the change of clothing makes her look… cute?... WAIT! Cute? Did I just say cute or-'_

"Can you cut off with the staring? It's kinda creeping me out… Hehehe…" Momo requested, going slightly red in the cheeks.

"Sorry," Toushiro quickly said beneath his breath and looked away, his face burning heaps more than the female's.

"Hitsugaya, you okay? Do you have a fever or are you not feeling well?" Ukitake put his hand on the teen's forehead to only have it removed.

"I'm fine! Really! NOTHING'S WRONG! Just because you think that I like Momo-"

"Ummmaa… Toushiro, we never really said that…" Hinamori interrupted and looked away. Awkward silence hung in the air as the three tried to take in what'd just happened. 

'_NO! That does NOT mean he likes me!... wait… why am I feeling disappointed?... THIS IS SO MESSED UP!...'_

'_**Is this boy still going through puberty?...'**_

'_Shit… why the hell did I just say that?...'_

"Gochisosama…" Hitsugaya got out of his seat and walked into his room before flopping onto his bed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An awkward silence hung in the air as Toushiro and Momo both walked to school together the following morning. Last night's outburst had sort of… changed how they thought and acted around each other a little… towards the awkward side.

"We're here…" Toushiro grumbled before being meeted by his friends. "Wassup?"

"Hey! Weren't you, like… in the classroom earlier?"

"What?"

"We saw you in the classroom, man!"

"I only arrived now!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"No!"

"He looked exactly like you…"

"No way…. " Hitsugaya tried to think what could've been happening.

'_Another me?... or at least another guy that looks EXACTLY like me… that's impossible! Unless… Holy SHIT! NO WAY!...'_

The prodigy then ran off to his classroom to find exactly what his friends were talking about. He slammed the door open and his breath stopped short in his throat. His eyes widened the largest they ever been. He couldn't say anything even though he wanted to.

A boy around Toushiro's age that looked exactly like him. The white hair. The turquoise eyes. The same muscular build. Everything.

"Toushiro! Wassup?" 

"Yu… kiko?"

"What is it, I'm not welcome here?"

"How? We thought you were dead…"

Everyone in the classroom, even Paris and Seth were silent. Not saying a word.

"Well… that's a question for later…" Yukiko crooned before leaning forward and smashing his lips against his twin brother's. Hitsugaya would've normally shoved him off and walked away but he was frozen to the spot. 

The class were staring at the two with their jaws nearly reaching their feet. Toushiro then heard footsteps approaching the situation then heard a familiar panting (AN: that sounds kinda wrong, LAWL). 

"Geez, don't run off like that! Tou…" Momo blinked a couple of times, taking in the sight before her. "Shiro…"

Before she knew it, her feet took off down the hallway. Her feet pounded against the tile floor and they were the only sounds she could hear. Even though she accidentally crashed into Matsumoto and made her drop her books.

Hinamori then stopped in the girl's change rooms where tears fled her eyes.

'_Wait… I shouldn't be crying! I should… be… happy… this is so screwed…'_

The girl then stopped when she felt a soft, warm hand on her shoulder. Sobbing, Momo's large, toffee-coloured eyes looked up to meet Rangiku's ocean-blue ones. Without a thought, she hugged her senior around the waist and cried into her shirt.

"Hey, Momo! What's going on?"

Hinamori just shook her head and refused to answer.

"I'll listen to you!"

Matsumoto pulled Momo off her shirt and embraced her in a hug.

"I… should be… happy…" Hinamori said between hiccups.

"What happened?"

"Toushiro and I were… walking to school and his friends… his… friends…"

"Did they bully you?"

"No! They said… that… Toushiro was at his classroom when he was… right next to me… so he dashed off without saying anything… so I followed him and… and…"

"And?" Rangiku urged on, eyes widened when she was thinking what could've been happening.

"He kissed him! I shouldn't care… it's not like… I'm his girlfriend… or anything… but it hurts… It's not like I'm jealous… or anything… I hate this…"

"Do you like him?"

Hinamori's eyes widened a little before returning to their normal size. Never in a million years… she thought she'd have a crush on that white-haired, arrogant jerk… but at the same time, her heart beated faster just by thinking of those things in him.

'_No way…'_

"Wait, Momo. Did you just say, no, scrap that. Is his twin here?"

The girl nodded, wiping her tears from her eyes.

"Oh my god… Momo, we need to get going. NOW!" Rangiku quickly grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her back to her classroom.

Seeing Hinamori run off, Hitsugaya quickly found the strength to move and tried to go after her only to have his wrist grabbed. The prodigy turned around to see his brother's eyes burning into his.

"You wouldn't leave me right? You wouldn't abandon me like you did all those years ago?"

Toushiro's breath stopped in his throat as his eyes widened and beads of sweat fell down his face. 

"That's not it. It's not like I-"

"You'll never understand how I felt! How I felt when I heard that you guys gave up on me! How I felt when I found out dad was dead!"

"Stop." Hitsugaya was now trembling as tears were rimming in his eyes.

Momo and Matsumoto made it to the classroom but stopped at the doorway when they saw the state Toushiro was in. Hinamori'd never seen her housemate in that sort of state before.

'_What's going on?...'_

"ESPECIALLY WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT YOU WERE THE ONE THAT KILLED HIM!"

"I said to stop."

"But then you squirmed your way out of the mess and found some… ROTTEN GIRL to replace me!"

"I SAID TO SHADDAP!"

"Oh, sorry! Drugs that are forced down your throat by kidnappers really take a toll on your temper!"

"SHUT UP!"

The boy finally snapped, falling to the floor, clutching his head in his hands. His breaths came out in loud gasps.

Hinamori quickly ran into the scene and grabbed Hitsugaya by the shoulders.

"Toushiro!"

The male's head hung forward as tears escaped his eyes, wetting Momo's clothes. Due to instinct, the girl pulled him into a tight hug. She laid her chin in his white hair. Even though she had no clue of what was going on, it hurt her to see him like this.

"Momo, let go of me for a sec," Hitsugaya quickly got up on his feet with a smirk on his face that Rangiku even knew he wouldn't wear.

'_It's Shiro-chan…'_

_**HEY GUYS! SOZ 4 THE LATE UPDATE!... THIS CHAPPY MIGHT'VE BEEN A LITTLE BIT FAST AND CONFUSING BUT ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN THE FUTURE! FUFUFU… THANKS 4 READING!...**_


	12. His birthday's coming

_**HEY GUYS! THANKS 4 READIN' THE LAST CHAPPY! URESHI!...**_

Momo gently let the boy out of the embrace and watched as he got up. First, he seemed emotionless but then was filled with anger and rage as his fist went flying into Yukiko's face. The twin fell back into a desk and blood started to drip out of his nose.

"SHIRO!" Hinamori quickly pushed her housemate aside before trying to help his brother up but he only wrapped his hands around her neck.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Can't… breathe…"

"Toushiro would NEVER hurt me! WE PROMISED! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIM?"

"I-I-I…"

"TELL ME NOW! OR I'LL-"

"YUKIKO!" Shiro quickly ran to Momo's aid and pushed the twin, who dropped the girl in the process but Shiro was quick enough to catch her just before she hit the floor. Rangiku took the female from the male's arms.

"You okay?" Matsumoto asked, concern smothering her tone. Hinamori just nodded her head as she caught her breath. Large, red bruises in the shape of hand marks covered her neck. Tears of fear dripped out of her eyes as she watched the scene, unable to do anything.

"Toushiro didn't hurt you dick! I did!"

"What?"

"We may share the same soul and I'm not sure if he know I exist but we're both very different people!"

"I'm his brother! His TWIN brother!"

"We both have no idea what happened to you after you were gone but he NEVER gave up on you! Living without you there was like HELL for him!"

"And WHO THE HELL are YOU?"

"THAT'S-"

Shiro's sentenced stopped half way through his throat. Murmurs filled the room which turned to frightened gasps as the boy collapsed onto the floor.

"Shiro-chan!" Momo quickly laid her housemate's head on her lap and checked if he was okay.

"WHAT IS THIS COMMOTION?!" Mrs Ramasy's shrill voice filled the room. She first saw the mess. Then Hitsugaya. Turning her head, she saw Hinamori holding another Hitsugaya in her lap. What on Earth?

"What on Earth is the matter, Mrs Ramasy?" The principal, Mr Yamamoto stepped into the classroom and his eyes widened. He then slowly turned his neck to look at Momo and Rangiku. "Ladies, what is the meaning of this?"

Hinamori squeezed Hitsugaya's hand as she eagerly waited for him to wake up from his slumber. He'd gone under a lot of stress and was transferred to the sick bay while Ukitake was talking with Mr Yamamoto about what'd just happened.

'_Toushiro… what happened?... I want to help you… I want to get you out of this mess…'_

Tears started to form in Momo's coffee-coloured eyes and dripped onto the white blanket which she soon buried her face in. Sobs filled the room as her arms subconsciously hugged Hitsugaya's arm in a tight hug.

"I wish I were your tear so that I can be born in your eyes, live on your cheeks and die on your lips…"

Hinamori looked up to see her housemate awake and weakly smiled, "That's the weirdest pick up line I've heard this week."

"You mean the only pick-up line you've heard this week."

"Yea, I guess."

"You wanna know one that's worse?"

"Fine, throw me one."

"If you were a piece of booger in my nose, I'd pick you first."

The girl burst out laughing as she quickly wiped away her tears. She looked into Hitsugaya's eyes and smiled. She hadn't felt this relaxed in AGES.

'_She's kinda cute when she laughs… no, No, NO! WHAT THE HELL?...'_

"Hey, Toushiro, you okay?"

"Yea… So… what happened with him?"

"To tell the truth, I'm not really sure but Ukitake's in Mr Yamamoto's office."

"Do you know what they're talking about?"

"No, sorry…"

"Where's Matsumoto?"

"She's in class…"

"Oh… ok… It's just that I got a text message from Gin saying that he'd be coming tomorrow…"

"Gin?"

"Her childhood friend and boyfriend who's apparently in his second year in Uni."

"I never knew she had a boyfriend…"

"What, you jealous?"

"NO!" Momo pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Hitsugaya just chuckled at the sight before their eyes met again. This time, they burned into each other. Hinamori wasn't sure if this was an awkward or comforting silence but to Toushiro's disappointment, she broke it.

"Speaking of which… Isn't your birthday in five days?..."

"Yea, on the last day of school…"

"Where we get let out at 12pm instead of 3:20?"

"Yea…"

"That's kinda nice…"

A lot seemed to be happening in the next few days as firstly, there were rumours going around about Toushiro being a two timer with him being gay with Yukiko and going out with Momo. They knew where people got the first rumour from but neither of them or their friends had any idea of how the second one did but they concluded it on when Yukiko yelled, "But then you squirmed your way out of the mess and found some… ROTTEN GIRL to replace me!"

Secondly, Rangiku's boyfriend, Gin arrived in town. Momo didn't find him at all bad to be around with until she walked in on him making out with Matsumoto after school on the day he arrived in the printer room. She couldn't do anything but stare at the couple, frozen on the spot and thinking this was normal until her eyes landed on the sleeves of Rangiku's tank top hanging off her shoulders. From then, she was starting to feel uncomfortable around him even though she had no problem hanging around Matsumoto.

Thirdly, there was a LOT to prepare for Hitsugaya's birthday (which he had no idea about that anyone was planning on doing anything) as Hinamori and Ukitake were planning to throw a party. Rangiku, Gin and Toushiro's friends, Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji Abarai, Shuhei Hisagi and Ikkaku Madarame were also going to help.

Meanwhile the guys were hanging out, choosing what music to play, Matsumoto'd dragged Momo out of the house all the way to the shopping mall. It wasn't as large as the one back in Hinamori's home town but it had great shops.

"And why are we here?" Momo inquired, gazing at the flashy windows around the two.

"What are you wearing to Toushiro's B-Day?"

"I dunno… maybe just a pair of jeans and… something?"

"NO! It's his BIRTHDAY! You should look like eyecandy for once!"

"What? No!"

"Why?"

"I don't like feeling exposed!"

"Well, who DOES?"

"Those girls who walk around the street wearing nearly nothing!"

"Who'd do that?"

At that exact moment, a woman in her late 30's walked past the two wearing a thin, black boob tube that just covered her nipples and tight, gold short-shorts which showed off a lacy, red g-string. (AN: Me and my friends ACTUALLY saw this at the beach and it scared the shit out of us coz she was all wrinkly) Hinamori then turned and looked at her senior with her eyebrow lifted and a look reading, "THAT was what I meant…"

"Everyone has their own definition of exposed when it comes to what they wear!"

Rangiku totally got Momo with that one. Even though she didn't want to admit it, it was a true fact. It was just that… what if Hitsugaya thought she was a whore or something? What would she do then?

"What are you so worried about?" Matsumoto asked, making Hinamori yelp and jump. "Geez! That REALLY makes me wonder what you were thinking about!"

"N-nothing…"

"Maybe…" The big-busted female leaned in over Momo's shoulder and breathed, "Toushiro Hitsugaya?..."

"AH! It's not that!"

Rangiku only laughed at Hinamori's blush, which was competing with the colour of the woman's g-string from earlier.

"Trust me, I found a dress and he'll like it!"

_**SOZ… THINGS MIGHT BE GOIN' A LITTLE BIT FAST BUT, HEH, I GOT A MATHS TEST 2MORROW… LAWL… THANKS 4 READIN'! REVIEW PLEASE!...**_


	13. Realising feelings

_**HEY GUYS! THANKS 4 ALL THE REVIEWS ON THE LAST CHAPPY! MY LEGS ARE LITERALLY SHAKING! LAWL!... CYA!...**_

Toushiro woke up before groaning and looking at his watch. 11:21pm. He would've rolled his eyes in annoyance but instead, he got out of bed and stretched his arms. The boy didn't bother putting any shirts or pants on and went down stairs for a glass of water in his black boxers.

'_Man… such a pain…'_

Hitsugaya poured water in a glass and raised it to his lips when…

_**CCCRRRREEEAAAAKKKKKKKK………**_

'_What the hell? I locked the door when Ukitake went to bed…'_

The teen silently edged his way around the corner to see a black, hooded figure trying to creep up the stairs.

'_It's a girl… it should be easy to hold her hands to her back before telling Ukitake to call the police…'_

* * *

Hinamori quietly crept up the stairs, holding the paper bag, which had her dress for Toushiro's party in it held tightly at her chest. It was 11:23pm. If Ukitake found her now, she'd be in BIG trouble. So would Rangiku. And maybe Gin. The girl tried breathing as slowly and quietly as possible to avoid waking anyone or at least be silent if anybody was awake at this hour.

Momo skipped the first step and slowly raised herself onto the second step to come to a harsh halt when the stairs creaked. She desperately looked around to see if anybody'd seen or heard her. Not noticing the muscular figure looking at her from around the corner in the dark, she got back to her task.

Hinamori quickly then raised one foot and was moving herself to the fourth stair when a pair of large, warm hands grabbed her arms and pulled them to her back, making her drop her paper bag. The girl would've fallen if her capturer wasn't holding her up.

"What are you doing here?" A male whispered into her ear.

'_Toushiro…'_

"Fine, I'll rephrase that. Who are you?"

"Well… I'm just ME-ARGH!" Momo tried to retort while turning around only to slip on her bag and fall on Hitsugaya at the bottom of the stairs with him on top of her. The girl groaned and squinted her eyes to see her housemate's head buried in her chest. Wait, CHEST!

"RAPE!"The girl screamed before raising her knee in a swift movement to hit the boy in the crotch, sending him rolling off her. Hinamori quickly jumped up onto her feet, grabbing her bag and rushed up the stairs only to be met by her uncle.

"Now. You've both got some explaining to do."

* * *

"Wait, so you were going to sleep over at Rangiku's apartment and call me but couldn't because she got drunk with Gin?" Ukitake inquired with his arms folded across his chest, obviously unimpressed. Momo couldn't do anything but slowly nod. She felt like she was dobbing Matsumoto in but it was all true.

"And Hitsugaya thought that Momo was somebody breaking into the house?"

"Ah."

"So you attacked her and was kicked in the crotch?"

"Ah."

"So you… weren't raping my niece?"

"OI, UKITAKE!"

"I know, I know, I was kidding! Now, you two will apologise to each other or do chores on the weekend."

The two teens sighed and rolled their eyes as they shook hands and apologised. They were getting so used to this. In fact, _**TOO **_used to this. Momo then took her bag and went upstairs only to have her arm grabbed by Toushiro.

"What's in that bag?"

"N-nothing!"

"It's not like it's a porn magazine…"

"It's none of your business!" With that retort, the girl quickly ran into her room and slammed her door shut.

'_This is going to be a long three days until Toushiro's birthday…'_

* * *

"Oh my god! HARHARHAR!" Ichigo and Renji were laughing their sides off when Hitsugaya told them what'd happened last night at the cafeteria during lunch. Matsumoto and Hinamori weren't able to hear them because they were two tables away. "So, you like, accidentally groped her boobs and she kicked you in the crotch?"

"I didn't grope her."

"Right…"

The prodigy then quickly grabbed their arms and twisted them until they heard something crack.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! We were kidding! Geez…" Renji yelled, shaking his arm as it was released.

"Why are you so serious about her?" Hisagi inquired. Toushiro just raised an eyebrow.

"I don't get what you mean by that."

"You got yourself suspended from school for her, you nearly drowned saving her, you saved her when she fell out of that window and you check her for bruises nearly every day… There's got to be a reason."

"She's Ukitake's niece. He'd be upset if I didn't."

"So you feel like you need to protect her?"

"You made it sound really gay but frankly, yea."

"Personally, I don't think this is what a friend feels…"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you don't feel… anything? When you're with her?"

"What are you saying?" Hitsugaya asked in confusion.

"So I'm saying…"

"Saying what? Just tell me."

"Do you… love her?"

"LOVE?" Toushiro burst out, silencing everyone in the cafeteria. He looked around and saw Hinamori staring at him, giggling and slowly sat down in his seat. "N-n-no, I don't think so…"

"You don't think so?"

"People are staring…"

The boy started to sink back in his chair, a deep, crimson blush rising to his cheeks. His friends all stared at him, astounded. They'd NEVER seen the guy this flustered before.

'_No… I DON'T love her… right?... I don't love… her… love…. ARGH!...'_

_**SOZ, THIS CHAPPY'S A LITTLE SHORTER THAN USUAL… HEHEHE… BUT I ENJOYED WRITING IT… I JUST HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED IT SO YA…**_

_**REVIEW PLEASE!...**_

_**THANK YOU!...**_

iHiH


	14. SURPRISE!

_**HELLU!… GAWD! I REALLY WANNA FINISH THIS FANFIC OR OPERATION PURPLEHEART REAL FAST! ARGH!... I JUST GOT A REALLY CUTE IDEA IN MY HEAD… OR I AT LEAST THINK IT'S KINDA CUTE… LAWL…**_

…

Today was the day. The last day of school for the year. Toushirou's birthday. Since everyone was let out at 12pm and there were no sports practices going on after school, Momo and the others had to think up of a plan on how to get home before Hitsugaya for the surprise party. They had the ENTIRE day planned out! Things were expected to go quite smoothly as the group, besides Matsumoto because she was a senior, were in the same class for nearly the entire day.

'_Okay… maths is now over and Ichigo and Renji should join us for literacy…'_

As if it was on cue, at that moment, the two males showed up in front of their classroom.

"Hey, wassup, Momo?"

"Nothing!"

"Well, you ready for Operation Snowman?"

"Yea!"

Only being a few metres away, Toushiro raised his eyebrow at the "Operation Snowman." What the hell was that? Were they playing some kind of mission impossible game or something? He wouldn't be surprised if they were. Speaking of which, they were acting a little distant today.

The class entered the classroom where they took their seats and the literacy lesson began. Unfortunately, for the class, since it was the last day (which was a good thing), the teacher'd decided to watch 'Romeo and Juliet.'

Most of the students weren't concentrating on the movie and yawned their heads while others, strained to understand what the actors and actresses were saying.

"Urgh. Kissing until morning. That must be horrible!" Ichigo commented, making Momo giggle since she was sitting between Renji and Ichigo. Hitsugaya noticed this through the corner of his eye and felt a spark of jealousy. Wait…

'_WHAT? It's not jealousy…'_

Hisagi, who was sitting next to the iceman noticed him acting strangely and realised that he was looking at Hinamori. The boy leaned over into his friend's ear, "So… you realised?"

"WHA? DON'T FUCKING BREATHE ON MY NECK!" Toushiro jumped up from his seat, shivers and goosebumps going up and down his spine from Hisagi's warm breath on his neck. The class turned around and all stared at him. Even the teacher, who'd paused the movie now, waiting for the young man to sit back down.

"Sorry…"

Hinamori tried not to burst out laughing when Renji cleared his throat REALLY loudly. Momo, Ichigo and Hisagi all looked at the clock. 11am. It was time for Operation Snowman to start.

"Ma'am! Something's not right!" Renji raised his hand before using it to cover his mouth as he leaned over his desk. The class then loud out a disgusted groan as he vomited on the tile floor.

"Oi, Renji!"

Hisagi quickly rushed from his seat and kept Renji's long, crimson hair out of his face, sending yaoi fans shrieking.

"KYA! MOE!"

"CLASS! Get back into your seats or you will NOT leave at 12!" The teacher shrieked as the class went silent. "Ichigo Kurosaki may take Mr Abarai to the nurse's office!"

It was operation success. All Ichigo and Renji had to do now was for Ichigo to come back to class, pretending that Renji was at the infirmary while Abarai wagged school and prepared for the party at home.

A smile creeped its way onto Momo's lips as she thought of the outfit she was going to wear that afternoon.

Toushiro noticed that the seat besides Hinamori was empty and quickly took the chance to sit next to her… which he soon realised was VERY unlike him…

Momo didn't really mind sitting next to her housemate but blushed when his arm touched hers. She got out a piece of scrap paper and pencil and quickly wrote a note down.

'Happy Birthday! ;)!...'

She slid it under Hitsugaya's hand and they both flinched from the touch. Toushiro opened the note and smirked when he read it. He scribbled something down and passed it back to Hinamori.

' :) '

'Wat is that?'

'The literacy teacher smiley…'

Momo giggled when she looked back at the smiley. It was an interesting lesson so far, getting to know her crush more…

* * *

The two had been passing notes to each other for nearly 45 minutes now and were both enjoying it.

'So… another pick up line?'

'Okay… ur ones r funny… lol…'

'Nice legs, when do they open?'

'laughs… where do u get these?'

'69…'

'69?'

'Well, that explains EVERYTHING… lol…'

'Yea, I guess…'

Toushiro was about to slide the note under Hinamori's arm while she tried to grab the note from his hand, making them, once again, hold hands. The two didn't do anything this time, they just blushed. Momo looked up, a red crimson filling her cheeks just has it was with Hitsugaya. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Toushiro started to lean in. Their lips were only millimetres apart and slightly parted when-

"OKAY CLASS! It was a nice year and I wish you luck for Grade 10! You may leave once you've finished packing up!" The teacher called, flicking the light switch on and ruining the moment at the same time. Everyone cheered as they rushed out of the classroom like a herd of elephants.

* * *

There was nothing but silence to be heard as Momo and Hitsugaya walked home together. The others had rushed without them to prepare the party that was going to be on tonight. Hinamori opened her mouth to try and start a conversation when Toushiro walked the other way.

"Where are you going?"

"You want an ice cream?"

"Okay…"

The girl followed her housemate to an ice cream van while he ordered two soft cones. Momo stopped Hitsugaya when he was about to pay for the treats.

"It'll pay for it!"

"A man should always pay for a woman…"

"Since when did you care about this stuff? I'll pay! It's your birthday!"

"Too late."

"Huh?" Hinamori's eyes widened when she realised that Toushiro was holding the ice creams and started walking away after handing one to the female.

The two were walking home now, licking their ice creams when-

_**BBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPP!!**_

Momo cursed as a car sped past her in a puddle, drenching her clothing and making her drop her ice cream.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!"

"About what?"

"The ice cream! You payed for it and-"

"Since when did you care about this stuff? It's my birthday!"

Hinamori pouted as the male backfired her comeback from earlier. Hitsugaya just smiled as he reached his ice cream out so that it was only an inch from Hinamori's face.

"You want some of mine, then?"

"Huh?"

"I didn't lick that part yet."

"You sure?"

"Go ahead…"

Momo licked a little bit of the cream off the cone, savouring the sweet taste in her mouth.

"_**SUMMER HAS COME AND PASSED**_

_**THE INNOCENCE WILL NEVER LAST**_

_**WAKE ME UP**_

_**WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS**_

_**LIKE MY FATHER-"**_

Hinamori picked up her cellphone and accepted the call, bringing the device to her ear. It was Rangiku.

"Oi, Momo! Don't just eat ice cream on your own and hurry up! The party's all set now! We've been waiting for like 8 minutes!"

"I'm so sorry!"

"We'll be there right away!"

Hinamori shoved the phone into her pocket and grabbed Hitsugaya's hand and ran towards their home.

"Hey! Why are we running all of a sudden?"

"Uncle just called! It's an emergency!" Momo quickly lied.

'_That should get him moving…'_

"What happened?"

"He just got home to find the furniture gone!"

"What? Wait! Momo! Get onto my back!"

"What? I can't-"

"Yes you can!"

"Wha? Argh!"

Before Momo could do anything, Toushiro hauled her onto his back and started running. As much as it was embarrassing and awkward, it was actually quite funny. She couldn't believe he'd actually believe that all of their furniture was gone!

The boy stopped running and caught his breath when they reached their home. Hinamori took that chance to cover Hitsugaya's eyes with her hands.

"Hey! I can't see!"

"That's the whole point!"

"What's up with you and everyone today?"

"Nothing! Just make your way to the door! I won't let go until you do!"

"Why are you yelling?"

"IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S A CRIME TO YELL AT HOME!"

"All right! Geez!"

Momo wasn't actually yelling to annoy Toushiro but to signal the others that they were home now. She got off her friend's back and they both walked to the door. Hitsugaya turned the handle and opened it.

"SURPRISE!"

_**YAY! I'M DONE WITH THIS CHAPPY! IT MIGHT BE CORNY BUT I DUN CARE COZ I WROTE THIS THROUGH A WRITER'S BLOCK! LAWL… THE NEXT CHAPPY'LL BE THE PARTY!... THANKS 4 READIN'!...**_

…


	15. Start to a birthday disaster

_**HEY GUYS! THANKS 4 ALL THE REVIEWS! I'M SO HAPPY! YAY!...**_

…

"SURPRISE!"

Matsumoto pulled a string coming from the ceiling and long, skinny balloons fell on the birthday boy. Everybody then went silent as their smiles dropped off their faces. Something obviously went wrong. Momo eyed the balloons as Toushiro's eyes went wide.

"Uh… thanks… but… are these balloons?"

"They should be… Renji! What did you do? I asked you to put the balloons in…"

Everyone then turned around and threw dagger-like glares at Abarai who was now doubled over laughing. Ichigo walked over to him and dug his elbow into the red-head's back.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"C… c…"

"Huh?"

"CONDOMS!"

Soon as that word came out of Renji's mouth, everbody quickly avoided the "balloons" as if they were in danger of being bitten by them. Momo quickly stepped back, accidentally stepping one a blown up condom and yelped when it burst under her foot. She fell onto the floor, knocking a table of soft drinks and squeezed her eyes shut as bottles of fizzy drinks drenched her to the skin.

Hinamori slowly opened one eye when she was sure that no more drinks were spilling. Everyone (including Renji) was staring at her now with wide eyes and jaws that were open like trap doors. She couldn't believe it. They were planning this party for a week and it was ruined just as it started!... and now… she smelt… like… soft drinks and was becoming sticky… The girl felt tears start to swell in her eyes. The only thing she could do was just stare back at the people who were staring at her.

"Hey! You okay?" Noticing that the girl was on a brink of tears, Hitsugaya quickly grabbed her hand and helped her up.

"Uh, thanks…"

The moment was then followed by an awkward silence as everyone tried to figure out what to say next. Toushiro _did_ have an idea but…

'_I might as well do it…'_

Sighing, the white-haired prodigy got the cake from the table and held it in his hands. It was a chocolate mud cake decorated with swirls of white chocolate and crunchy mint chips with "Happy B-Day Iceman!" in blue writing. He could tell that a lot of effort went into it. He already picked it up…so… frankly, there was no going back in this. Hitsugaya held the cake in one hand.

"Oi, Abarai…"

"What?"

_**SPLAT…**_

Renji Abarai couldn't do much for the first few seconds as the facts of what'd just happened sunk into him. Okay. So his face was covered in birthday cake. The birthday cake was thrown at him. The throw was done by Toushiro Hitsugaya. What to do now?... Well… maybe… throw some… back at him?

"You asked for this, BIRTHDAY BOY…" The redhead quickly grabbed some of the cake from his shoulders and threw it back at his friend, who quickly dodged. The chocolate mush hit the wall behind him. It stayed there for a few seconds before slowly sliding down to the floor, leaving behind an icing trail.

"Oi! You two!" Rangiku grabbed the two by their collars and yelled in their faces. "You have no idea how long it took me and Momo to make that cake! You'll both clean this up before you clean up yourselves!"

"Ah… sorry…"

"Oh, and Momo! We need to get you washed!"

* * *

Hinamori and Matsumoto could hear the boys in the living room watching movies and pizzas.

"Sounds like they're watching Black Sheep… that movie was okay… but weird…" _**(I RECKON THAT MOVIE'S SO FUNNY! BUT DON'T WATCH IT IF U DUN LIKE GORE OR DARK HUMOUR…)**_ Rangiku stated, her ear pressed against the cold, wooden door as she waited for Momo to get changed into the outfit that they got at the mall. Well… Momo was hesitating A LOT but got it as Rangiku insisted.

Hinamori never really wore this kind of stuff, even before her parents' and Kira's death so it was a little… new to her. She'd worn a dress but not one like this! She was just glad that it wasn't sleazy or too revealing.

Momo smoothed the dress out in a couple of places before looking at herself in the mirror. The girl took a deep breath in before turning around and looking and Rangiku.

"I'm not sure if I can wear this out there!"

"What? Of course you can!"

"But-"

"But what?"

"It's just so-"

"It's just so cute on you!"

"I-"

"Will wear this tonight! Momo, I can bet my college money that you look very cute in the dress. Okay?" Matsumoto got off Hinamori's bed and put her hands on her shoulders and looked into the girl's eyes.

"I'll see how it goes…"

"That's the spirit!"

* * *

"Oh my god, that hippy chick's so stupid! Grab the fucking gun!"

Hitsugaya smacked Renji on the back of the head, making him fall off the couch.

"You decided to put condoms on the ceiling. So don't think about screaming in my ear."

"Hey! It's not like they were used!"

"We can't trust you on that."

"What did you say?"

"…"

"Oi! I'm-"

It took a moment for Abarai to realise that Toushiro's attention was completely snatched away from their bickering. The red-head followed his friend's gaze which seemed to be glued to somebody standing at the staircase.

* * *

Hitsugaya couldn't believe it. She was standing there… in a dress? She looked so different in a dress. More… well, he couldn't say feminine because she could look feminine dressed like a hobo but more… he couldn't put his finger on it…

The dress was a peach-coloured cocktail dress, which reached just above his housemate's knees. There was a silky, white ribbon tied around her waist into a bow at her back. The girl's hair was in a bun with her bangs cascading the sides of her face, which had a white cloth around it to match her dress. The boy could just make out a small heart-shaped locket hanging around her neck.

The outfit was simple but… cute… she looked more innocent than the girl who'd thrown her converse chucks at him on her first day here. Then again, she did say that it was an accident.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable under Toushiro's stare, Hinamori fidgeted with the end of her dress and slowly went down the stairs. Why did he have to stare at her? Did she look weird in the outfit? Did she look like a slut?

"Whaddya think? She looks so cute!" Rangiku interrupted the silence when she jumped down the staircase and crushed Momo in a hug, twirling her around as she did so.

"Argh! Rangiku! You're making me dizzy!"

"Ah! Sorry!"

Matsumoto stopped spinning Hinamori around like a toy and let her down on her feet. The bun-haired girl found it hard to keep her balance at first but then found support by grabbing the back of the couch. Exhaling a deep breath she'd taken, she looked at Toushiro and asked, "So… where's uncle?"

"No idea but he said that he'd be back by 9."

"Nine?... where the heck? Do you think he's on a date?"

"Dunno but your uncle seriously needs a wife before it's too late…"

"I agree with you on that… So… what's for dinner?"

"Renji ordered pizza… that okay with you?"

"Yea… by the way… is Black Sheep a gore movie?"

"It depends what you mean by-"

Hitsugaya didn't get to finish his sentence as Momo quickly ran towards the kitchen, holding her stomach with one hand and covering her mouth with the other as if she was going to throw up. The boy looked back at the screen to see a lamb chewing a man's head off.

"I'll be back."

With that, Toushiro hurriedly jumped off the couch and ran after his housemate. She was at the sink throwing up. The boy swiftly ran towards her and pulled her bangs out of her face. He then looked away from the sink to avoid vomiting himself.

"You can't stand gore movies?"

Hinamori shook her head as she turned on the tap and washed the gunk down the drain. She realised there was some on her chin and grabbed a piece of napkin from the bench top to wipe it off. She raised it up to her chin and wiped off the remaining vomit.

"You want some water?"

"Yea, that'd nice. Thanks."

"No problem."

The male took a bottle of water out of the fridge and poured some in a glass cup and handed it to Momo. She took the glass from the cup and raised to her lips. She opened her mouth and drank the fluid. The girl then put the cup back in the sink and wiped her mouth again before throwing the napkin in the bin.

"You okay?"

"Yea… so… you didn't spike that drink?"

"Shaddap…"

--

_**YAY! THANK U 4 READING! THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE CONTINUING THE PARTY! YAY!...**_

…


	16. Birthday Gone wrong

**_HELLU! LONG TIME NO SEE! THIS CHAPPY'S JUST A TAD LONGER THAN THE REST BUT IT MIGHT BE UNSATISFYING... OWO... COZ I'M TRYING TO WRITE THIS IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR... DON'T ASK WHY, I'LL EXPLAIN AT THE END OF THIS CHAPPY... I ALSO DECIDED TO TRY AND NAME MY CHAPTERS FROM NOW ON... GEWD LUCK TO ME 4 THAT... OWO... _****_THANKS!... ENJOY!..._**

_**...**_

"So… you didn't spike that drink?"

"Shaddap…"

"What? I'm just-"

_**DING DONG!**_

Toushiro ran to the door and opened it to find a man with pizza boxes stacked in his arm. He had brown hair which came down to his chin that was in a fish plait.

"Uh, dude… you pizza… ummmaa… 24 dollars…"

"Yea, just wait… Oi, Hinamori! I need 24 dollars!"

"Yea! Just wait!" Momo ran to the door where Hitsugaya and the pizza delivery man stood, counting notes and coins. "Ummmaa… let's see… this should be 24 dollars!"

The girl handed the money to the delivery man but couldn't pull her hand away. She looked up to realise that the doofus was refusing to let go. She tried pulling her hand away once again but failed.

"Wanna go somewhere?"

"Excuse me?"

"Maybe dinner?"

"I don't even know you!"

"But me know you!"

"Huh?"

"You're the chick that-"

"Let. Her. Go. Now." Hitsugaya interrupted the argument between his housemate and delivery boy and quickly pulled Hinamori's hand out of the jerk's before snatching their pizza away too.

"It's not like she's taken, dude… or do you just like her and-"

_**SLAM…**_

"Dick…"

The group sat on the couches in the living room watching Hot Fuzz for the next hour eating pizzas. The only sounds that could be heard were the laughing and commenting at the TV, munching and of course, the TV. Momo tried to shift her position on the armchair she was sharing with Toushiro without dropping her pizza or annoying the white-haired boy.

Why was she sharing an armchair with her housemate? The answer was simple. Space. Since Ukitake's household was only a small one with three people, there were only two armchairs and a couch that could only fit three people. Hinamori and Hitsugaya were the two with the smallest body sizes so they both sat on the same chair while Rangiku was on her own on the other one while Hisagi, Ikkaku, Renji and Ichigo squished together on the couch.

"I'm home!" The party turned around to see Jyushiro walking through the front door, bags of groceries in his hands. "Eh? Is this really a birthday party? It's so quiet! I told you that you should've gone to the cinemas or the park!"

"Ukitake… I'm not eight anymore."

"But you don't have to be eight to enjoy simple things like that!" The white-haired man chimed, spinning the grocery bags around while he was at it. "Oh yea, I had something for your birthday!"

Momo's Uncle then handed the boy a box wrapped with red paper. An envelope also fell to the floor with, "Addressed to Mr Hitsugaya Toushiro" printed in large, blue letters on it. Hitsugaya bent over and picked it up and his eyes widened. Looking at the boy's reaction to the envelope, Jyushiro immediately snatched the object away.

"Ukitake, why did you snatch that away when it's addressed to me?"

"U-uh, they got the wrong person! Or…" Jyushiro was stuttering… well, not really… his face held the image of a person trying to make up an excuse. "It's just nothing. It doesn't matter."

"It does matter! It's from the asylum!"

"What makes you think that? The asylum wouldn't have any business with you."

"Well, according to last night, MY TWIN BROTHER'S FUCKING STAYING THERE!"

"Watch your language young man!"

Everyone was staring at the two housemates now. Due to his normally soft and generous nature, Ukitake never really raised his voice so it was quite a shock to everyone in the room. Even Momo'd never seen her uncle raise his voice and yell at a teenager in such a manner before. The brunette's mouth was currently hanging slightly open, her eyes widened and blinking.

Toushiro's fists tightened, the skin covering his knuckles turning white as they threatened to give out and rip open any second. He bit his lip for a second before releasing a long breath.

"Yea, whatever… sorry Ukitake…" The boy apologised before looking back at the present in his hands. "What is it?"

"Your present. Open it…"

Hitsugaya's slender, yet strong fingers slowly opened the present in his hands, pulling the red wrapping paper away. They stopped when they reached a box which felt like it was made of cardboard. The birthday boy hesitated before opening the cube.

"Ukitake… this is…"

"Just open it."

Toushiro lifted the lid of the box and smirked. The older white-haired man sang, "You LOVED candy when you were little!"

"I loved candy eight years ago."

"But-"

"Thanks…"

Hitsugaya got a lolly and popped it in his mouth, rolling it around his mouth. He handed the box to Hinamori, who also took a lolly and popped it in her mouth.

"This stuff is pretty good…"

"This stuff is REALLY sweet!" Rangiku piped, also helping herself to a sweet. The big-busted teen jumped off her couch and took a box out of her handbag, which was lying in the corner. "Which reminds me, I got you a present as well!"

Matsumoto eagerly handed the boy her present and eagerly waited for him to open it. The white-haired teen raised an eyebrow. He lightly shook the box next to his ear before looking back at the strawberry blonde-haired friend.

"Matsumoto, I'm still underaged."

"Eh? How did you guess?"

"You got me alcohol last year as well."

"And Toushiro or anybody else won't even PUT their lips to that until he graduates into uni!" Jyushiro chirped, gently pulling the present out of Hitsugaya's hands. He pulled the bottle out of the box and examined it. "Hmm! Don Perigon! (AN: I'D BE RICH IF I OWNED THAT…) Not bad… How did they let you buy this?"

"Hey! The birthday boy was meant to open it! And be careful with that! I had to give up on four t-shirts I wanted to buy to be able to get my hands on that!" Rangiku snapped.

"It's called the charms of a woman!"

"More like flirting..." Hitsugaya grumbled.

"Hey! I heard that! That was harsh! As a punishment, we will play the penalty game!"

As soon as the last two words, "penalty game" escaped Matsumoto's lips, everyone in the room- besides Momo and Ukitake, who clearly had no idea of what was happening- groaned like soccer players being told to run laps around the field.

"Penalty game?... Is this a bad thing?" Hinamori asked, eyebrow creased.

"Matsumoto's been playing that game since..." Renji started.

"Grade six..." Hisagi finished for the red head. Ichigo's eyes withdrew from their scowl and he rolled over and sighed as if the world was going to end in the next hour.

"Can somebody please explain what it is?" The brunette asked, clearly getting annoyed at how the group was acting.

"Every player receives an ice-cream stick with numbers written on them and pick one out without knowing what number they'll get. The sticks are labelled from one to how many players there are and the person that gets 1 can order any number to do anything but they have to be careful because they don't know who's got which number." Toushiro said and breathed in rather deeply at the end of the explanation as he had said that in one breath.

"I once played that game at a birthday party..."

"Well that's great because you know what to do then!" The big-busted teen interrupted the petite girl, forcing people in the room, besides Jyushiro, to pick a paddle pop stick from a bunch which she took out of the pocket of her jeans.

Momo squinted to read the small numeral marked on the bottom of her stick.

'_Seven...'_

At the same time, Hitsugaya also read his number.

'_Number four...'_

"Okay! Who's got one!" Rangiku chimed, responded by Hisagi raising his arm with an I'm-so-over-this-thing expression on his face. He had no idea what to do. He was number one. So what? He didn't even know who had which number! The black-haired teen sighed, scratching his head.

"Ok... Uh... number four... has to... tell the group... what they're... scared of the most."

"What the hell? What kind of commandment is that?" Ichigo commented, one of his eyebrows raised.

"So you're number four?"

"No."

"Well, I couldn't think of anything else so just shut up and listen... Strawberry head..."

"What? What did you just-"

"I'm agateophobic." Everyone in the room- besides Ukitake, who'd gotten tired and walked into the kitchen for some coffee- turned around and stared at the apparently-agateophobic owner of the voice. The white-haired teen's eyebrow twitched under everyone's eyes fixed on him so sternly with expressions on their faces reading, "What's that?"

"So you're number 4?" Hinamori finally mustered up the courage to break the silence.

"Ah."

"What's aga-whatever-phobia?" Ikkaku interrupted.

"It's a fear of gay people! Get it? A-GAY-teo-phobia! HARHARHAR!" Renji chortled but nobody laughed at his corny joke. As usual.

"Actually, that's homophobia." Rangiku corrected the crimson-haired boy.

"Why would people be scared of gays anyway?"

"I personally don't mind gays, leses and bi's…" Hisagi joined in on the conversation.

"Okay, what is agateophobia anyway?" Momo quickly changed the topic. Talking about these... sexual (?) things were never really... in her hall of talents... or rather... interests.

"Last time I read about it, it was… Hey, Toushi, why the hell would you be scared of insanity?" Kurosaki questioned, his eyebrows furrowed into their normal scowl again.

"Huh?" Everyone burst out at the same time.

"Agateophobia, the fear of insanity or going insane." Ichigo stated once again so that nobody would be confused. "What the hell, Toushi?"

"That's none of your business, you-"

"You kids better go home quick! It's already eleven pm! Your parents will be worried!" Jyushiro popped his head into the room and reminded everyone of the time before heading out again.

"Oi, Toushi... can we... like... talk? For a minute? Outside?" Kurosaki asked, grabbing his friend's wrist and dragging him out of the house before letting him answer him.

* * *

The white-haired boy followed his Orange-haired friend outside, not saying a word but having an idea in mind of what he might ask him or talk to him about. The two stood under a large fig tree, hands in their pockets to keep them warm from the gusting wind. They were both thankful for the street lights or it would've been impossible to even be able to see in the dark.

Ichigo nervously cleared his throat, hoping that he wouldn't say the wrong words. He knew Toushiro was one of his best friends. He knew his taste in music, clothing and food. And he knew Hitsugaya wouldn't slap him across the face like a few girls did over the past few years. Slaps from Matsumoto especially hurt... BAD...

"Oi... you wanted a word with me?" Toushiro grumbled, slightly annoyed that his buddy was drifting away from the situation. Kurosaki immediately pulled back into reality and took in a deep breath.

"The other day... your twin... don't think that's something we'll just... over look."

"Yea, so what?"

"Hey! We didn't even know that you had a brother! We don't know anything about you!"

"Yes you do."

"Then what about your parents? Where are-"

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER TELL US ANYTHING! WHAT ARE WE TO YOU? WHAT-"

"MY DAD'S DEAD AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THAT BITCH OF MY MUM IS! HAPPY? NOW YOU KNOW WHERE MY PARENTS ARE!" Ichigo was taken aback by Hitsugaya's sudden... outburst. His fists were clenched until his knuckles were white. His head hanging low so that his face wouldn't be read. Why was he acting like this? So weak because of the past? He was meant to be ready for this. He knew that the past would catch up with him one day... so why was he acting like this?... So vulnerable...

Kurosaki'd only seen the teen like this... nearly... never...

"Look, just drop it... forget it... we can just-"

The sound of the front door slamming shut cut the brown-eyed male short before he could finish his sentence.

_**OKAY, I KNOW! LAME ARGUMENT! WHATEVER! I'M WRITING THIS IN TWENTY MINUTES COZ MY INTERNET ACCESS HAS BEEN RESTRICTED AND AS EXPECTED, IT SUCKS! I FEEL LIKE I'M UNDER HOUSE ARREST... SIGHS... **_

_**I SPECIALLY THANK REVIEWERS OF THIS STORY! THANK YOU!**_

_**...**_


	17. What to do now

_**OKAY, HEY GUYS! SORRY, I KNOW THAT MY WRITING THESE DAYS AREN'T AS GOOD AS IT WAS... BUT I'M TRYING! I'M TRYING TO BECOME BETTER SO I REALLY THANK THOSE PEOPLE WHO TAKE THEIR TIME TO REVIEW FOR ME, CRITICISE ME AND SUPPORT ME THROUGH THIS! I LOVE YOU PEOPLE SO MUCH! THANK YOU!**_

* * *

Momo helped Ukitake and the others to clear the mess in the living room. Surprisingly enough, even though Rangiku yelled at Toushiro and Renji to clean up the cake mess from earlier, there was still a bit of residue on the wall... and not to mention, on the floor. The table cloth had to be washed as it smelled like fizzy drinks and the pizza boxes had to be put in the bins outside.

Hinamori was washing the dishes in the kitchen and jumped when she heard the front door slamming shut, causing a frame to fall off a wall. She marched out of the kitchen to see who had caused the short ruckus to see none other than Hitsugaya storming up the stairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" The brunette called up the stairs but didn't get any response from the white-haired boy. She turned around to see everyone giving each other puzzled looks. Until Ichigo stormed into the house too. Matsumoto immediately noticed this and put her hands on her hips.

"Ichigo, what did you do?"

"Nothing..."

The big-busted teen groaned at the sarcastic grumble and rolled her eyes.

"Great going, strawberry head! Momo, you go upstairs and talk to him!"

"Huh? Why me?"

"NOW."

Rangiku shot the shorter female a death glare as she gripped the front of Kurosaki's shirt, shaking him violently. Hinamori immediately followed her friend's order and ran up the staircase. Just open his door and ask him, "Is there anything I can help with?" It seemed so simple. Until she reached the door...

An eternity seemed to pass she stared at the wooden entrance, hesitating whether she should REALLY open the door or not. Her hands touched the round handle for a few seconds before they shot back as if it was burning coal. She breathed in really deep. This was not as easy as it sounded. But it was so straightforward! All she had to do was-

"Who's there?"

The deep, familiar voice rang out through the silence. The female breathed in deep before answering, opening the door and poking her head into her housemate's room. How did he even know that she was standing at the doorway? Did he sense her there? Or just see her feet beneath the door?

"Whaddya want?" The boy snapped, twirling a basketball on his index finger on his bed. Momo couldn't really answer though... she was so occupied... with his room. It was her first time in there, even though she'd stayed at her uncle's for quite a while now.

The smell of the room just glomped the brunette from the moment she opened the door. It smelled like him. The floor was polished timber, accompanied by white walls with band posters and photos covering them. His desk sat in front of his window, which was also right next to his bed. Everything was so... organised... in a way. There was nothing on the floor, the desk was clear of objects... it wasn't as messy as she thought it would be.

"Uh... Momo? I asked you why you're here."

"Oh... Uh..." The female quickly tried to remember why she was here in the first place. "I was just wondering... did anything... well... _happen_ out there? Between you and Ichigo?"

"Not really."

"It doesn't look like '_not really' _happened..."

"Why's it any of your business?"

"Oh... sorry..." Momo mumbled. She looked down at the ground, not knowing what to say next. Toushiro started to feel slightly guilty of his somewhat-harsh choice of words just then.

"No, I... I should be the one... apologising."

"Eh? Why?"

"For everything."

"Eh? What's **that** supposed to mean?"

"Quite a lot actually…"

Momo tilted her head and put her fingers on his chin, trying to think of what he was talking about.

"By the way, thanks for the party…"

"Oh! Speaking of which, I nearly forgot to give you your present! Just wait a sec!" The brunette piped up, dashing out of the room but rushing back in with a parcel in her hands in only a matter of seconds. She started to fumble around with the white ribbon on the black box. She started to hesitate whether she should give it to him or not. When she told Matsumoto of what her present was, she started gushing and saying how sweet it was. But now that she was actually giving it to him, something felt... not quite right. What if he thought the gift was lame or stupid? Or pretend to like it but then never really think of it again?

'_I already have it and he knows of it so I might as well just give it to him... stuff it if he thinks it's weird… I hope he doesn't though…'_

With shaking hands, Hinamori slowly handed the small box to her housemate. When he received the box, he slowly examined it.

'_Hhhmmm… judging by the size, it could be a pen…'_

Hitsugaya shook the box at his ear a little before his graceful fingers went to work in opening the present with minimum ripping in the wrapping paper. An eyebrow quirked when he found nothing but a piece of paper inside the miniature box. It didn't look like any ticket of any sort either. Just… normal printing paper…

The boy flipped the piece of paper over and read the message written in Hinamori's round, cursive writing.

**Happy B-Day! XD!... I'm on the roof! Enjoy!**

Toushiro raised a slender eyebrow at the strange… present… He looked up at Momo with a questioning look on her face, earning a giggle from her.

"What's so funny?"

"Y-your face..." The brunette's voice tinkled in his ears. "I don't… know why… your face… just… that expression…"

The white-haired teen quickly jumped off his bed and walked to the giggling female until he was just inches away from her. He put both of his hands on her shoulders. She stopped giggling immediately.

"And give me a reason not to laugh at **your** face." He questioned.

"What is there to laugh about in my face?"

"The fact that it's bright red."

Hinamori quickly shrugged off Hitsugaya's hands and put her palms on her cheeks. They were burning hot. She quickly started to think of ways to stop it when laughter broke out through the room. Her eyes widened when she realised that it wasn't her. But the male standing not so far away from her. She'd never heard him laughing. It was strange. But at the same time, it was beautiful and mystifying.

She was so enchanted by his laughing that she didn't even notice that she was up against the door. Until her back touched the smooth timber.

'_Why am I backing away?... wait, how did I not notice my feet moving in the first place?...'_

The girl started froze when she snapped out of her thoughts and realised that he was gazing into her eyes. Turquoise into brown. How strange and captivating it felt. Especially with the strange look in the boy's eyes that the brunette just couldn't put her finger on.

Momo's breath hitched when she realised that there was a hand on her right waist. She didn't know what to do when she realised that a pair of lips were pressing softly on the corner of her mouth.

* * *

**_YES, I FIGURED THAT I'M RATHER EVIL TO LEAVE IT THERE FOR THIS CHAPPY... WHICH WAS WHY I LEFT IT THERE... HAHAHA!! SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LATE UPDATE!MY REVIEWERSALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO GO OFF AT ME FOR IT! THE REASON AS TO WHY I COULDN'T UPDATE IS VERY PERSONAL SO PLEASE DON'T ASK... ;;..._**

**_..._**

**_THANK YEW!_**


	18. Omnomnomnomnom!

_**HEY!!!! SOZ FOR THE LATE UPDATE! D8!!!!...**_

…

Momo's breath hitched when a pair of lips pressed gently on the corner of her mouth. So softly that she barely felt them there. However, upon the soft contact, her surroundings seemed to diminish, leaving her in her own little world.

"Momo?"

Her name that came out of his mouth was lined with hope and passion. She didn't have to ask him what he meant. She already knew what he was telling her just by looking into his eyes. Hitsugaya Toushiro, was never really a person of words after all. In reading and writing, yes. But talking seemed to be a completely different matter. Especially from the one now.

'_She's not responding…'_

His eyes softened when the girl in front of him failed to respond to his wordless confession. She was looking into his eyes but he didn't know if she was there. Silence engulfed the atmosphere to the point where it started to worry him.

'_What is there to worry about? I've been rejected.'_

"I'm sorry Momo. I-I didn't mean to… I just…" Toushiro knew exactly what he wanted to say to the brunette. Word by word. But he seemed to choke on his own voice. Heartbreak immediately took place in his heart and started spreading like a plague. "You know what? Just forget it. I shouldn't have done that in the first place."

The white-haired male began to turn around but stopped when he felt a soft hand wrapping around his wrist. His head turned to face the female he had confessed to. His jade eyes widened when he felt her soft, pink lips upon his own. He felt slender arms move up and wrap themselves around his neck. He instinctively, yet shakily, put his hands on her waist and moved his lips with hers.

Momo's hands seemed to move on their own as they reached up to tangle themselves his thick, white locks of hair. She gave out a small yelp of surprise and pleasure when his lips started moving to hers. She felt his lips tug upwards in a smirk against her lips. Or was it a smile? Well… it didn't really matter for now. Especially not now.

_**KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.**_

The two quickly pulled apart and turned to the door. (Not to mention, they both inwardly groaned at the unwanted interruption.) Hinamori quickly straightened out the barely noticeable crinkles in her dress from where Hitsugaya's arms had wrapped themselves around her waist. She looked up when the door was opened.

Matsumoto stood at the doorway, quizzically eyeing the pair.

"You two okay up here?... everyone got curious 'cause it was… awfully… quiet…" The strawberry blonde asked the teens, an eyebrow lifted awkwardly. An unwanted awkward silence hung in the air as thick as a cloud of smog. "I'm interrupting something aren't I?"

Hinamori and Hitsugaya both froze like deers in the shining headlights of a giant landrover.

"I-"

"We-"

The two both clamped their mouths shut when they started at the same time. They then both opened their mouths at the same time again, causing them to shut them again. Rangiku quirked an eyebrow at their blushes. They seemed… too flustered. She thought she might have a few ideas of what they were doing (or talking about) but wasn't really sure. She'd let it pass and poke it out of the brunette later.

"Ah! You two are so cute! I just wanna eat you up! Omnomnomnomnom!"

Matsumoto engulfed the pair in what she considered a normal glomp, yet, still managed to suffocate the both of them at the exact same time. Toushiro started to wander if the senpai had a lawyer. Just in case if this was how he and Momo died. Which was actually, quite a possible outcome.

He struggled out of the death trap, pulling his crush out with him. They both gasped for air upon their escape. The two turned their heads towards each other before quickly turning away from each other, their blushes burning even more.

Rangiku sighed and ran a hand through her golden locks at the sight.

"You guys know what you need?"

The two teenagers both turned to their senpai.

"You need some coke and I found some donuts in the fridge…"

* * *

Momo opened the fridge and scanned the contents within the cold sealer.

'_Three cinnamon donuts… and one chocolate… Hhmmm… cinnamon or chocolate? The question of which one has less sugar goes out the window seeming that it's too late to worry about that at this point today… I'll take… well… since there are three cinnamons and only one chocolate, I'll take a chocolate!'_

The female quickly slammed the fridge door shut with her right hand while she took a bite out of the donut. Thick, chocolate icing gathered at her lips like lip gloss, which she quickly licked off.

'_Another wonderful and logical decision made! Yay!'_

"You look awfully happy for someone who just stole my donut."

Brown orbs shot up to meet a pair of teal ones. Their owner raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Exactly, what makes this _your_ donut?"

Hitsugaya took a step forward towards his housemate until their noses touched. She felt her heart leap out of her chest when he smiled coyly.

"Because…" She shivered at the feeling of his breath fanning her ear and cheekbone. "…it is."

The boy quickly snatched the donut out of her hands and took a bite out of it as he turned on his heel to exit the kitchen. Momo's mouth fell open. "Hey! You can't do that, I had it first!"

"Thanks for the donut."

The female's eyes narrowed as her lower lip pouted. She huffed before quickly opening the fridge and tearing into a poor cinnamon donut rather ferociously. Her head whipped to look in the direction of the doorway when she heard laughing.

"Whuab?" ("What?")

"Aw! Hina-chan can be so cute even when she's furiously stuffing herself with a donut!" Matsumoto quickly ran to her kouhai and grabbed a napkin off the kitchen bench. She held the younger female still while she quickly wiped her face clean. "Seriously, what would you have done up until now without me?"

"Ahb babed obe my ohbab!" ("That bastard stole my donut!")

"Aw! No need to be so piped up over it! Here, have some coke!" The buxom teen poured the smaller female a glass of the fizzy drink and handed it to her.

Rangiku stared at Hinamori as she chugged it down. She quickly looked around before averting her eyes back to the person in front of her. If she was going to poke someone for information, now was the perfect time to do it.

"So what were you and Toushiro doing up there?"

The strawberry blonde watched in amusement as a small gush of coke choked out of the petite brunette's mouth. She quickly slapped her back a few times as she tried to regain her breath and stop her coughing. They both got down and wiped the coke off the floor before washing their hands.

The brown-eyed girl quickly looked up at her senpai. "You don't ask things like that when someone's not expecting it!"

"Ask things like what?"

"Huh?..."

"I only asked what you guys were doing up there, I never implied anything…" A sly smile of achievement started to grow on Matsumoto's face.

"Oh, I think you did!"

"Or maybe you just think I did because you _did_ do something up there…"

There was a slight staring competition before Momo looked away, blushing.

--

**GOAL! And Rangiku Matsumoto has won the battle! **

–**marching band comes in playing the "Ode to Joy" while confetti and fireworks fill the star-lit sky-**

**--**

"So what did you guys do up there?"

She brunette quickly put her cup in the sink and started to march out of the room. "We did nothing!"

"Right…" The strawberry-blonde quickly reached forward and grabbed the younger girl's wrist and swivelled her around. She quickly leaned forward so that their noses were touching. "You sure it wasn't a bit like this?"

The victim was rendered too speechless to do anything. The smile widened on the older female.

"I'm taking that as a yes." The next second, she was gone.

Hinamori looked around for her, her eyebrows furrowed together. She "huffed" and leaned on the kitchen bench when she realised what had just happened.

"URHG! That's the second time today! Mou!"

Things possibly couldn't get any worse.

"Hey, Momo!" Renji yelled from the roof. If Momo had cat ears, they would have picked up. The brunette could also hear Matsumoto yelling at him from the front yard to get off the house. What was he doing up there?

"Are these fireworks?"

Her eyes widened. "RENJI! DON'T-"

**BOOM!**

"Wah!"

**Thud.**

A scream. Probably Rangiku. "Somebody call the ambulance!"

"Woa! His leg's fricking halfway twisted to Sunday!" Most definitely Ikkaku.

WHACK.

…

Bugger.

* * *

_**AHAHAHA… DON'T ASK WHY I DECIDED TO LEAVE THIS CHAPPY LIKE THAT… IT'S COMPLETELY UNLIKE THE WAY I HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED IT BUT SCREW THE PLAN… XDDDD… AHAHAHA… I JUST FELT LIKE IT… XP…**_

…


	19. LIAR!

_**Yes, it seems that I have been gone forever but I am not dead. To those who have messaged me even though I was not updating (thank you for your concern), I cannot reveal why I was gone or the exact whereabouts but I'm sure the term, "REHAB" draws the line. Anyways, thank you for your support and patience. Please enjoy!**_

* * *

_Tick , tock, tick, tock…_

The constant ticking of the clock. The also constant shaking of Ikkaku's right leg rattling the attached row of plastic chairs. Surely, this would be the start of World War 3? Oh god.

"Hey, stop shaking your leg. It's annoying." A growl bellowed from Ichigo. It had already started.

"Can't help it." Ikkaku's response immediately shot back.

"Well, move seats then." For once, Hisagi had joined forces with the Tangerine, also joining him in an attempt to glare the baldy down.

"YOU FUCKING MOVE SEATS! YOU'RE THE ONE REQUESTING!" Madarame exploded, shooting out of his seat like a cat in an ice bath. This triggered his opponents too.

"Well, it's sending fricking vibrations through the chairs 'cause they're fricking attached to each other!"

"You idiot! Then just break the chairs!" Yes, at this point, intelligence was flying out the window.

"_You're_ an idiot!" Ichigo yelled back. So he wasn't going to say that they couldn't break the chairs?

A fist collided with a jaw. Being at least one hundred percent that anyone involved in the brawl would be kicked out, nobody bothered to separate them. A series a yells and grunts filled the air but was silenced by a single clearing of the throat. Heads turned.

"Well, he's fractured his right arm and broken his right leg in two different places, they'll be in cast for a while and I'm afraid that Renji will have to walk with assistance and crutches." The doctor's eyes scanned the occupants of the room rather sceptically, tapping her biro pen on the clip board held to her chest. It was as though she had been pulled out of an episode of "Grey's Anatomy". The image was so clichéd that it was almost painful.

"Tch… that idiot got himself into this anyway…" Toushiro got up from his seat, stretching his arms and back while stifling a yawn. "Why should we have to worry about it?... I'm going home."

Momo got up from her seat after him. "Wait! I'll go with-"

The white-haired boy took a right turn into the hallway.

"Hitsugaya! The exit's… on the left…"

The brunette trailed off when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Rangiku smiled down at her. "Don't worry about him. Toushiro's still Toushiro. He's probably just a little peeved that this had to happen on his birthday…"

Hinamori smiled back. "Yea… I guess."

Yet, something didn't click. It almost felt like gears trying to turn when they didn't even fit in together. While the petite female was deep in thought, an awkward silence choked the atmosphere of the room. Or maybe it wasn't as awkward as everything thought it was. Maybe it was just one of those silences that made you feel bad when you didn't have anything to say.

Momo slowly traced her index finger on the glass pane of the window in front of her. Her finger started to lose heat and go red. The glass was almost like a thin sheet of transparent ice. She could see that it was lightly coated with frost. The brunette started to wonder if that meant it would snow soon.

"Uncle?"

The white-haired man didn't look up from the magazine he was reading. "Hm?"

"The snow's awfully late…"

Silence engulfed the older man as he slowly lowered the magazine and sighed. He looked up at his niece, his brown eyes seeming somewhat weary and drained. It almost frightened the female. How much sadness was trapped in those irises?

Jyushiro cleared his throat to answer. "It never snows here. Ever. And it never has. Probably never will."

Hinamori's slender eyebrows knitted together. Why was he speaking so strange? Why did Matsumoto seem to suddenly find interest in her shoes? It was too peculiar. Even Ichigo and Ikkaku weren't bickering anymore. She didn't know what to say.

'_Say something… anything… just…'_

"EH?! Then what's the point of winter?" The brown-eyed teenager forced out a disappointed sigh. "And I was hoping that we could go snow-sledding or ice-skating or something over the holidays…"

The tiniest smile tugged at the corners of her uncle's lips. He seemed almost grateful that she had attempted to change the mood. Yet, he also seemed to see past the act and into her intention.

"It's just… the way things are meant to be, I guess. Who knows?... maybe it's better this way."

"Hey!" Momo and Ukitake both whipped their heads towards the strawberry-blonde when she burst out. She shook her head at the white-haired man, who looked away with a guilt-ridden face. "You shouldn't just say things!"

Curiosity bubbled in the back of the brunette's mind as her uncle swiftly apologised.

A nurse walked into the room. "Excuse me… Renji's parents said that they would be able to pick him up so you don't have to stay if you'd prefer not to. It is late and cold after all."

Everyone sighed as they got out of their seats, stretching their backs and arms over their head. Sighs and yawns filled the room. Jyushiro looked at his watch and gasped. "It's 12am! You kids should be home in bed!"

A smile cracked on Hinamori's pink lips at her uncle's rather maternal personality.

"Hey, do you know where Toushiro went? He sure as hell didn't go to the exit…" Ichigo grumbled beneath his breath. It was obvious that the carrot-head was not liking the idea of maybe having to go look for him in the hospital.

"He probably just went to the vending machine…" Ikkaku apparently wasn't interested in having to look for the white-haired boy either.

"I'll look for him!"

Before anyone could say anything, Hinamori had bolted out of the room.

* * *

'_Geez… maybe I shouldn't have come after all…'_

A sulking teen ambled the many halls of the hospital. How was it that every single room, corner, stairwell and hallway led to the same place? Or maybe it was just that the entire place looked the same all over. The heaviness of her eyelids clearly screamed out to her that her mental clock desperately wanted to put her body to sleep. She shook it off.

'_I came all the way here!... can't back out now or it'll be embarrassing!... where is he anyway?...'_

Hinamori pushed past doors and walked around corners with no real thought of where she was leading herself. She was already lost, did it even matter?

"NO! FUCK! GET THE FUCK OFF ME! LET! GO! FUCK!"

The brunette almost jumped out of her skin. She quickly whipped her head around to investigate the source of the commotion.

"LET GO! NO! NOOOO!!!!"

Legs thrashed as arms adorned in white reached out and desperately tried to grab the psychotic patient. People in white. Rushing towards the scene. Nurses and doctors held the patient down as someone pulled out a syringe and injected fluid into his arm. They then quickly let go and stepped back as the body started to become sluggish in its movements before eventually dropping to the floor. Nurses ran in with a straight jacket.

Momo shook her head.

'_Not dead. Just tranquilized… Why am I even here?...'_

Just as she turned to leave, she stopped. If it weren't for the light, yet completely overwhelming, traces of aquamarine in the distance, she would have missed the head of white hair amongst everything else that was the same colour. Just a little duller.

The aquamarine turned the corner and disappeared into a hallway, leaving the brown-eyed female trailing it without realising.

"Oi, what's a pretty girl like you doing here?"

"Are you my daughter?... they told me she died in a house fire, you see…"

"Play with me!"

Nothing reached her as she sturdily turned the corner only to quickly step back again. She made sure that her presence wouldn't be seen or heard by the boy in the next hallway.

"I told you I don't want them. You can burn them for all I care." At the sound of his deep voice, Momo immediately found herself listening.

"Legally, I can't do that without her permission, Toushiro. She asked me to give them to you." A female voice. A slightly older woman. Professional.

"Well, legally, I have a right to cut off any connections with anyone I want."

"But you still came here to visit your twin brother?"

The brunette immediately felt as though her senses had heightened. Everything was so much more clear now. Every word they were saying. None of them escaped her ears.

Hitsugaya cleared his voice, his mind void of any responses to the question.

"Even after what happened at school?"

"How do you know about that?!"

"Toushiro, I've known you since you were seven."

"Liar. That's not the reason. Who told you?!"

"It's a small town, Toushiro."

"You liar! You fucking-"

The sound of high-heels clacking her way caught Momo's attention immediately. Her body seemed to freeze and stiffen for a moment before instinct took over and commanded her body to quickly turn around and bolt. She had just managed to make it out of the hallway when-

"LIAR!" The yell silenced the entire ward. Even the brown-eyed teen, herself, turned around to stare at the one who had unleashed it.

Fury. Fury, fury and so much more were burning in his eyes. Even for a pair of orbs that everyone had always described with the words "ice" and "cold", Hinamori could feel the fire burning in them. Jaws and fists were clenched to the point of joints turning white. A toned chest rose and fell as shallow breaths were taken.

The doctor pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her hear. She turned towards Hitsugaya and released a sigh.

"Toushiro, my sources have a right to remain anonymous."

"And I have a right to live a normal life with privacy!"

"Toushiro, you and I both know that, that is not possible with your brother here."

"This has nothing to do with him! So you can just-"

"Toushiro, I currently hold the legal rights and qualifications to put you on therapy and meds again, if I feel the need to do so. And I must say that your… current status… as of now happens to be rather concerning."

"You wouldn't."

"I can. I promised your mother that I would-"

"Don't you _**DARE**_ fucking mention her again!"

Confusion. Momo's mind was clouded with it. The words coming out of Toushiro and the doctor's mouth made no sense to her, yet they might have. She felt as though she was trying to fill in a hole too big.

The female even failed to notice her housemate turning the corner and freezing in his tracks. Her brown orbs widened as her mouth went dry.

'_You didn't hear anything. You didn't. Hear. Anything… Just say something!'_

"H-h-hey… uncle said to look for you… b-b-but…" Hinamori trailed off under his icy glare. Never in her life had she been so overwhelmed by a person's presence. "Yea… well… it was… heck of a party and all… but…"

The words wouldn't form. The glare she was receiving intensified. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

**_Yes, short chapter as per usual but I'm seriously on a roll for this story and "This Bittersweet Life". I've also gotten "Whatchya Waitin' 4?" planned out so yea... xDDDD... please review?_**


	20. I think

**_HELLO AGAIN! I KNOW I SAID THAT I'D UPDATE THIS CHAPPY FASTER BUT MY SCHOOL JUST RANDOMLY DECIDED TO SWAP EVERYONE'S LAPTOPS FOR NEW ONES SO YEA... O_o... ENJOY?!?!?!..._**

**_..._**

The words wouldn't form. The glare she was receiving intensified. "What are you doing here?"

"Well... I was… told to come and get you… so…"

"You're lying." The atmosphere froze over.

Why was this happening? In fact, _what_ was happening?

Hinamori Momo struggled to come up with a logical response as she felt her heart drop to her stomach. Yet, it seemed to be beating so much faster.

Toushiro had always been a kind of protector to her. Even when he did it subconsciously. Then how come her instincts were telling her, screaming at her, that he was dangerous? That he wasn't a protector right now? Would he really hurt her? He couldn't! Or could he?...

The white-haired teenager growled. "What did you hear?"

"I didn't-"

"I asked you what you heard!" He quickly took a step forward. Momo wanted to run as he got closer to her. She didn't know this person. She wanted to yell at him to pull himself together, move, anything. Yet, her feet were frozen to the ground and the words were only hanging on the tip of her tongue. She squeezed her eyes shut.

_**THUD.**_

The brunette opened her eyes and gasped. She blinked her eyes a few times, taking the scene before her.

He was lying face-flat on the white, tile floor. Doctors and nurses rushed his way but quickly stepped back as he got back up, rubbing his face.

"I'm alright!" He called out, his tone having changed completely. "Sorry! Just… sorta tripped there!"

The aqua-eyed male laughed loudly and scratched the back of his head. He turned around and looked at the doctor until she cleared her throat and marched off. He turned back to Hinamori again, whose mouth was open.

"We should go. Uncle's probably waiting for us."

The brunette didn't respond for a few seconds as her housemate walked past her. She clenched her fists as she quickly caught up with him. The two quickly jumped into an elevator.

Both of their fingers shot forward to press the button. The two teenagers quickly withdrew their fingers before shooting forward to press the button again. The snow-head smiled. "You press it."

Momo reluctantly pressed the button before stepping back. She was cautious to keep her distance away from the male in the elevator beside her. She desperately wanted to talk to him, ask him what had just happened, what Toushiro was talking about. Yet, something inside her told her to keep her distance. This was not Toushiro. Yet, Shiro wouldn't really hurt her. Would he?

Sensing her anxiety, Shiro sighed. "You know… Toushiro wasn't thinking of hurting you. He would never _**ever**_ consider anything amongst those lines..."

The brunette breathed in a shaky breath as her eyes widened. Those words meant so much to her, yet why did they hurt? It was as though Shiro had reached out and tugged on her heartstrings. She felt tears jump to her eyes, threatening to pour out. "You wouldn't know. You didn't see the look on his face."

Silence filled the elevator. It was quickly broken when Hinamori pressed her hands to her face, breathing in deep breaths.

"God, I never saw him so mad…"

"He wasn't mad. He was just… hurt. Frightened. In shock. You should have seen your face. You looked so scared..."

Watery, brown orbs looked up into the aquamarine irises. She could see truth in them but something inside of her wanted to doubt what he was saying.

"Momo, you might not believe me. But I would know. I'm a part of Toushiro that he doesn't even know the existence of. I can feel what he feels. We're a part of each other. I know it's hard to understand but you have to believe me or Toushiro's never going to forgive himself.

Silence filled the elevator again.

"Will Toushiro remember this?..."

Shiro's eyes widened as he turned to look at Momo. She was looking down at her feet, her eyes on the verge of tears. He didn't know what she was thinking. Was she hopeful that her housemate might forget what happened? Or was she trying to come up with something to say to him if he remembered? He wasn't sure. His eyes reverted back to their original size as he drew out a breath.

"No. He won't remember this."

"Oh…" She certainly wasn't relieved. "Why?..."

Shiro ran his hand through his hair. How was he meant to explain this to her? Nobody had ever asked him about it before… Ever. She probably wasn't going to like it. She might even hate it. He turned her around by her shoulders so that they were facing each other and looked sternly into her eyes.

"Momo, Toushiro… I'll admit it, if he were normal, I wouldn't even exist." The brunette's face contorted with confusion. "I guess what I'm trying to say is… he's been through a lot. And he doesn't even know it. He doesn't even know of my existence."

"I know that." Shiro was slightly taken aback by Hinamori's statement but didn't show it. It was her next question that slightly confused him. "But why?..."

He thought about it. Yet, he could only come up with one answer. "Momo, when Toushiro's ready for it, it'll come back to him. What he doesn't want to remember is what he doesn't know."

The watery-eyed female scowled at the idea. "What if he never remembers?"

Shiro chuckled grimly. "Oh, trust me. He will."

"How do you know that?"

"Well-"

_**DING!**_

The doors of the elevator opened. The two got out of the elevator. Momo turned to Shiro, expecting his answer, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to meet her worried uncle.

"Geez! Where were you, Toushiro? That took you a while… I was starting to get worried! Were you lost or something?"

The brunette opened her mouth but quickly closed it before she could say anything. She had almost let the truth slip. That would not happen. There were still things she wanted to know from Shiro.

"Well… the vending machine was out of order but we got lost when trying to find another one…" Shiro filled in for the female. The brown-eyed teen didn't miss the slight suspicion in her uncle's irises. She quickly filled in any doubt.

"But it turns out they're all just in maintenance check… so yea…"

The two teenagers innocently looked up at the older man, secretly waiting for the suspicion to subside. Deciding to trust his niece, Ukitake let that last shred of doubt slide. He quickly smiled.

"Well, we should be going home then!"

Many mental sighs were drawn.

* * *

Shiro groaned as his spine relaxed on the mattress. He moved his shoulders around a bit before completely relaxing his body. Well, technically, it wasn't _**his**_ body but it was _**shared**_…

He raised his right hand towards the ceiling and stared at the back of it. He didn't know why he ever did it. It was just something he did. He guessed that it was a habit for when he was in deep thought.

Aquamarine eyes narrowed.

Shiro turned to his side and sighed. His vision started to go blurry as sleep started to take over. Yet, even in his almost slumbering state, he could feel it. It was becoming stronger and stronger with each given moment. Even in the moment when he was not in control of the body. He could feel it, being the only thing he could feel sometimes.

The white-haired teen knew it was coming. He knew it was coming ever since the moment he knew he existed. Yet, he never expected it to come so fast. Especially since Momo arrived into his life.

Was he really going to be strong enough? Would Toushiro ever need him anymore afterwards?

Shiro was pulled out of his thoughts when there was a light knocking at the door. He didn't have to ask who it was to know. It was dead obvious. He quickly sat up and pulled a shirt on, grumbling a slightly muffed, "come in", in the process.

The door slowly creaked open and in popped a pair of doe-like brown irises. They stayed there, slightly sheepish at first, before entering the room.

Hinamori slowly stepped into the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. She had wanted to know this so bad, yet why was her mouth so dry and her heart beating so fast? She gripped on the edge of her sweater.

"You should wear pants… It's cold… you'll catch the flu or something…" It was obvious that she didn't know what to say. Shiro found this slightly amusing and most definitely adorable. But he just scratched the back of his head and let out a loud yawn.

"Toushiro normally sleeps without his pants on so it'd be weird if he woke up with them on." The white-haired teen smiled even more when the brunette blushed and looked away. "So… why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Momo huffed. "You should be asleep too! A-and you should know why I'm here!"

Shiro mock-gasped. "I should?... Hmmm… no wait! I think I might know! It's about your question about Toushiro's memories! I'm so smart!"

The brunette's slender eyebrows knotted together. Shiro immediately stopped his joking around and looked down to the floor. He drew in a deep breath and sighed.

Momo's features softened. "You know, you don't have to-"

"I think I'm dying."

The female scowled. "Very funny."

Shiro only stared up at her. Silence filled the air.

..._What?_...

He was dying? Wait, wait, wait! What did he mean by that? As in disappearing forever? Or was Toushiro dying too? Or was it just him? What would happen to Toushiro once Shiro supposedly _died_?

Hinamori well-knew by now that Hitsugaya was the type who tried to be independent. How hard he tried not to need people protecting him, rather, trying to be the protector instead. She knew that wouldn't be easy. Yet, she always felt like she knew nothing at all.

If Toushiro was being sub-consciously protected by Shiro, what would happen if he disappeared?

"B-but... Shiro! That doesn't make sense!" Momo cried out. "HOW?! Why?! You can't just... disappear!"

She was quickly hushed by the male as he quickly stood up and clamped his large hand over her mouth. The brunette knew that she was panting heavily. She felt something start to break in her.

Large brown irises were born into by aquamarine. She was immediately calmed. The hand let go of her mouth.

Shiro bent over so that he was at the same height as Hinamori. He pressed his index finger to her lips.

"Shh... we don't want to wake your uncle."

The female nodded slowly and the finger was taken away. The white-haired male sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, patting the spot beside him. Momo didn't hesitate to take a seat. The two looked down at their feet. The brunette, just searching for something to stare at, while the snow-head just smiled at the great difference in foot sizes.

He hooked his leg beneath Momo's so that his right foot was between her feet. His feet were pretty much the typical feet of a male teenager. Large, slightly calloused with a barely visible sock-tan. Momo's, on the other hand, were small, petite with her milky skin.

Hinamori's brows lightly furrowed, confused at her housemate's actions. Just what on earth was he smiling on about? What was there to be smiling about?

"Toushiro's right. You have cute feet."

The brunette blushed and quickly crossed her legs, so that her feet were hidden. Shiro quirked an eyebrow but let the whole "feet thing" slide. He wanted to know something from her anyway...

"You know, even if I seemingly _disappear_, I'm not really disappearing... I'm just... not a separate being..." Shiro's eyebrows creased at his word choice. "Or... personality... or whatever you call it... Since I'm a part of Toushiro, I'll just... sort of... become an _actual_ part of him again... not as separate as I am as of now..."

Momo let the information sink in. It was somewhat logical and she could get the basic idea. For once, she felt like she could actually trust this being. He seemed a lot different from how he was in their other encounters. The brunette particularly cringed at the memory of their first meeting by the lake.

'_Maybe... he isn't as bad or as threatening as he seems...'_

She analysed the taller figure, who was now staring up at the ceiling with an expression she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"You know... first... I just thought... you were a complete... well... _asshole_... and then I just thought you were a jerk... then I thought you were... well... a bit..." Hinamori mentally facepalmed herself as Shiro looked at her in amusement. "Anyways! You don't seem to be... a bad person... although most of the time, I do not understand your ways or why you do some things... but... I remember the first time I saw my uncle talk to you... he was so... hostile... it's not him... and... well-"

"You want to know why he was like that." It was more like a statement than a question. The brunette nodded.

Shiro sighed. He looked down at the floor, the darkest smile tugging at the corner of his lips. A grim chuckle escaped from the bottom of his throat. It sent chills down Momo's spine.

He turned to her and bore into her being with his turquoise eyes. Something was in there. Something that no matter how hard she tried, she could not figure out.

"If only you knew, Momo. If only you knew..."

Whatever it was that was lurking behind those beautiful, yet frightening, orbs, Hinamori was definitely sure of it.

It wasn't anything nice.

* * *

**_REVIEW PLEASE?... :333..._**

**_..._**


	21. Midnight Nightmare

_**HELLU PEOPLES! XDDDD! SOZ, I KNOW IT'S LITERALLY BEEN AGES SINCE THE LAST TIME I UPDATED! I WAS HIDING FROM SOMEONE! AHAHAHA!!!! BUT… FINALLY! CHAPTER 21!!!!!...**_

…

_

* * *

__A smile tore out on Toushiro's delicate face as his slightly stubby hands gripped tightly onto the edge of the window sill. Surely, if his small fingers had gripped harder (if possible, the window sill would give out and break under the pressure. His pink lips pursed, his attention at its highest peak._

_Aquamarine eyes widened when the gate to his home creaked open. Grinning from ear to ear, the little child ran out to greet his father._

"_Daddy!"_

"_Toushiro! Hey!"_

_The white-haired boy ran to his father, who knelt down so he was at the same height with him. His large, warm hands were open and extended out towards him. Toushiro leapt into the waiting arms…_

_**THUD.**_

_Hitsugaya's large eyes widened, not quite registering what had just happened. His father was gone. He was no longer out in the warm garden of their home anymore but lying down on a cold, tile floor. A sharp pain rang out from one side of his head to the other. He gripped his head in vain and screamed, doubling over._

_The child looked up and his breath immediately caught in his throat. What was this?_

_Nothing was in its normal place, nothing was clean. Was this even his home?_

_The white-haired boy turned his head to the right to see a fallen picture frame. He slowly moved the broken glass around it with the back of his hand before picking it up and studying it. In the picture was a happy family of four, consisting of a father, mother and two beautiful twin boys._

_It indeed was his house._

"_T... T-Toushiro…"_

_His heart hammered in his chest as the said boy slowly stood up, frantically scanning the room he was in for the source of the wheezy voice calling out to him. Aquamarine eyes settled on a familiar figure lying face-down behind a kitchen chair._

_Toushiro cautiously walked over the broken glass that littered his floor towards the mysterious person and froze. "Dad?..."_

_He immediately ran towards him, sitting down next to his father. The man barely raised his head, coughing and wheezing in the process. His now, cold, turquoise eyes bore into those of his son's. They burned with hurt, anger, malice and sorrow. His dry, chapped lips opened to draw in another shaky breath._

_Toushiro quickly came to his senses again and got up to his feet, hysterically scanning the room for a phone. "Dad! Hang on! I-I-I'm gonna get you help! Okay? What happened to you?!"_

_The boy then stopped when he felt a hand grab his ankle. He looked down at his father's face, tears of fear and confusion running down his cheeks._

"_Run away, Toushiro… it's the only way you'll ever escape… Hide. And never show yourself again…"_

_Toushiro gaped in horror at his father's face dropping down to the floor again with a dull "thud". His eyes blinked, as his senses quickly registered almost a million things at once._

_It was silent. Too silent._

_His dad wasn't breathing anymore._

_His dad was dead._

_He was the only one in the house now._

_His dad was lying in a massive pool of blood._

_He was standing in a massive pool of blood._

_And he was covered in head to toe with it._

_Hitsugaya shakily raised his hands to his face, fear completely overtaking him when the crimson blood on his fingertips glistened and grimly dripped in thick, oozing drops. He wanted to throw up._

_Instead, his feet took him out the door and into the cold street. He didn't care that his feet were bare and cut up, or that he was wearing clothes that were too tattered to even be called proper clothes anymore._

_The freezing wind sliced his skin and burned his eyes._

_The young boy ran down the street._

_Screaming the entire way._

_Hitsugaya Toushiro died that night._

* * *

Hinamori's eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. She swore she just heard something creaking downstairs. Maybe it was the floorboards?...

_**Click.**_

Or a door.

The brunette nimbly got out of bed, slipping on a cardigan over her night gown. She silently tip-toed over the floorboards of her room and opened her door. Just enough to be able to hear anything that happened downstairs.

Her ears waited to pick up a sound but heard none. Slender eyebrows creased in confusion.

Maybe she was just hearing things? She was awful sleepy after all…

Momo turned around to go back to sleep but stopped. Breathing. No, scratch that, panting. Coming down from downstairs.

She slowly opened her door, and stepped out into the hallway on her toes so that she would not creak the timber floorboards. Her willowy fingers quickly found a broom leaning against a wall and tightly wrapped their fingers around it.

The brown-eyed girl carefully crept down the stairs, alert for anything that could go wrong. She stopped when she saw a tuft of white hair in the darkness. Her eyes squinted in the shadows, just to make sure.

"Toushiro?..."

A gasp resounded through the room.

Hinamori stretched her arm out, searching for the light switch before flicking it on. Her eyes quickly closed as the bright light filled the room in an instant, before slowly opening. They widened at the sight that was before her.

Even though the brunette had lived with this boy for well around a year now, never had she seen those aquamarine eyes cry tears. Or the boy's muscular body slouch over in melancholy as he tried to catch his breath on his hands and knees.

"Toushiro?... Oh my god… you okay?! What happened?!" Momo quickly ran towards her housemate and reached out to touch his shoulder. However, her hand quickly retracted as quickly as it had come forward when Hitsugaya visibly flinched at the contact. He stumbled onto his backside, his beautiful eyes large and filled with fear as he looked up at brown ones filled with confusion.

"Toushiro…" The brunette knelt down to meet his height. She gently gripped his shoulder. "Why are you so upset?..."

The white-haired teenager quickly scrambled to his feet, staggering back a few steps due to lack of balance. His hands swiped out to grab at anything for balance, instead, knocking a glass vase off the dinner table. A loud smash resounded through the house as the fragments of glass flew off into their own directions across the floor.

Hitsugaya's breaths came out in ragged gasps, his feet being pierced on the pieces of glass. He looked down, his eyes widening at the sight of blood on his feet.

Momo could only stare in concern and fear at the boy's bizarre and disturbed behaviour. "Toushiro… I'm gonna call uncle, 'kay?... Stay right there…"

The moment the petite girl started to rise to her feet, a scream tore from Toushiro's mouth, making her fall back to the floor again in surprise. She watched with wide eyes as her housemate ran around the house as though he were on fire. She watched as he literally reached for every fragile object he could get his hands on and threw it onto the ground. Splinters of glass flew in every direction as she raised her arms to her face to protect herself.

"Toushiro! Stop it!" He wouldn't listen to her.

No, he _couldn't hear her at all_.

Hinamori barely heard her uncle's voice through the madness. "Toushiro!"

"SHIRO-CHAN!"

The smashing halted. Everything was silent, the only sounds in the room being Ukitake and the brunette trying to catch their breath.

Hitsugaya dropped the china plate that was in his hand and fell to his knees. The brown-eyed teen quickly got up from her spot and scrambled over to her housemate. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Toushiro…"

"M… Momo… you're bleeding."

The white-haired male shakily reached for the brunette's hand and raised it to his face. As he feared, the smooth skin was now covered with tiny cuts. A tear rolled down his cheek, he quickly wiped it away. He raised his head to face Momo, sorrow and confusion filling him upon doing so.

"Momo, I…"

She raised a finger to his lips and pulled him in for another hug.

"Sh… it's okay…"

* * *

_**Yes, this one was out to shock you all! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! The story should really be rolling now and questions will be answered! I apologise for the short chapter! : DDDD!!!!...**_

…


	22. The way things are

_**Hey guys! I know it's been heaps long since I last updated, right? : DDDD... well... I shouldn't exactly be smiling when I apologise (or is it okay? My mum and I always argue about that...) for my late update. ^^;;... I'm actually doing pretty well these days, so well that it's kinda creepy, almost like a magnet's pulling all the pieces of my life together... so yea... life is fine~**_

_**I know my new username's like totally lame (not that my old one wasn't...) but I had to change it for... certain reasons... *throws jellybeans at my stalkers from middle school and Google*...**_

_**xDDDD... but as of now, I'm not exactly "not that great" anymore but I have signed my junior high school soul away to the International Baccalaureate Program so I'm gonna be busy being gruelled for the nest two years until I graduate... ahahaha...**_

_**I love you guys. **_

* * *

A nod of the head followed by a buzz ringing through the air signalled that the barred door had been unlocked. The white-haired teen trailed behind the burly man along a narrow corridor lined with people visiting their loved ones. Or not so loved ones.

It really depended on the situation.

Both men came to a halt when they finally reached an empty seat. The security guard grunted as he wriggled his uniform trousers up a little by the belt loops, his hard belly sagging over the edge. He eyed the teenager and the man behind the glass for a brief moment before grunting the official start of the visitation.

"Twenty minutes."

Toushiro nodded, watching the guard walk away before turning his attention to the man behind the glass. His lips parted as though he was meant to say something but nothing came out. It was almost as though, for once, the genius's brain was blank. Or maybe he had so much on his mind to ask but didn't know where to begin.

Deep down, something stirred in Hitsugaya's chest upon that theory but he quickly smothered it.

It was always like this anyways.

Every time.

"You're looking well. Been working out?"

Aquamarine eyes shot up to look at the man behind the glass. He hadn't changed. The same face with the same sharp features, same ash-brown tufts of hair and weary teal eyes. If this man had just been any man, Toushiro would not have seen the changes. But he wasn't.

He could see it all. The bags and dark circles beneath his eyes that stained his pale skin. How much higher his cheek bones looked against his hollowed cheeks. It was etched into every wrinkle, laugh line and scar on his face. Life.

Besides that, the lower half of his face had also sprouted some stubble. He needed a shave. Definitely.

"No... not really."

"Oh... okay then... It's just... well... I guess you're just growing then, huh?..."

"Maybe..."

Silence thickened the air, making it buzz and ring in Toushiro's ears. He would have resorted to looking down at his fists on his lap but that was a long time ago. Right now, he would resort to staring into the eyes of the man in front of him. He wouldn't be able to hurt him.

Even if he wanted to.

His Adam's Apple bobbed as he cleared his throat and swallowed.

"How's Ukitake?"

"Good... I guess... same as usual... just more protective that his niece is here now..."

"Why, you like her?"

A rush of red filled the boy's cheeks, his eyes widening as he fought for a legible response. The brown-haired man just laughed. "There's no need to be embarrassed! I just thought that there wouldn't be another reason why Ukitake would have to be protective."

Upon concealing his fluster in record time, he cleared his throat again. "Well... there isn't a need for Ukitake to be protective."

"But can't be helped, you know. It's not anybody's fault that my son's such a stud."

Silvery eyebrows creased in a scowl at the joke. It was a normal joke. One that a father would normally say to his son in pride. Or to occasionally embarrass him, just for fun.

But this felt sour. Almost as though Toushiro had taken a bite into a fruit and had received a mouthful of bitter juices instead of the anticipated sweetness he knew was there.

He fought his mouth's urge to turn up in the slightest smirk or to say something back.

Maybe another day, he would allow himself to smile at his father.

"Then again, I remember being around your age when I fell in love with your mother..."

Something grumbled through Hitsugaya's lips before he had a chance to stop them. His father had a difficult time hearing them but he could barely make them out. "Don't mention her."

"Toushiro..."

"Don't. Mention. Her."

"Why?..."

The snow-headed boy's head hung low. "You know DAMN well _why_..."

"But that's not going to change anything. It's not going to bring her back. It's not going to reverse the mistakes I made and things are NEVER going to be how they were-"

"You wouldn't know. Half of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me-"

"I tried to kill my sons. Now, one of them is in a psychiatric unit, probably for the rest of his life; another is left growing up in another household without a mother or a father." Toushiro's lips set into a hard line, trying so hard not to give into the temptation of screaming. "And I'm left here to rot for the rest of my life and stripped of all chances to try amending things. Your mother's gone, Toushiro, but our current situation is neither Yukiko's nor your fault. It's mine."

He had to say something. It didn't matter what. If he just stayed silent and walked away, he knew it would eat away at him later. "But I-"

"Jesus Christ, Toushiro! You never had anything to be forgiven for! It's what I did! That's why I'm here! Why do you do this to yourself? Even I woke up to the truth one day but you're still straying further and further away! You're losing sight of everything!"

He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't frown or yell. He. Would. Be. Calm.

"Bringing the dead back to life does nothing, Toushiro. It's been five years... Just stop it. Please."

Toushiro's lips opened to argue back before he realised that he really had nothing to say.

"Everything you know and need is right in front of you but you don't even know it."

White eyelashes fluttered as turquoise eyes shot up, eyebrows creased in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? What are you saying?"

Nothing came out of the brown-haired man as he bit his lip and cursed beneath his breath. "Toushiro, just forget it. It means nothing."

"No! You think I haven't seen it? The way Ukitake looks at me like he knows something I don't? How everyone, even the teachers and students at school, look at me like they're surprised by how I am? Like I shouldn't even be here? Everything means something…" The snow-haired teen slumped back in his chair. "Momo's the only one that doesn't know… she always looks at me like she wants me to be able to tell her what my secret is… but I don't even know it!"

"Toushiro… I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that… I promise I'll tell you when the time comes, I promise."

At first, it came out just as a whisper, yet so loud. The weight and meaning behind the one word seemingly burning a hole in the older man's chest. It seemed to be the entire reason that he was in this world. Even now, as he vegetated in the prison cells, only alive in his own memories of the past.

"_Dad_…"

Toushiro couldn't find the strength to be surprised by what he had just said. How long had it been since he had called this man his father? Since he even felt that he had one?

"Dad… _please_… Just _tell me_."

It was almost as though the battle between the two men was beyond the hills. No doubt, it was still there, but barely. Almost like the orange, glowing sparks scarcely burning their way through cracks in coal in a dead fire. Dead and unremarkable. But still there.

The wall between the father and son had seemingly been burnt down in that one moment, leaving to two in the ashes, still searching for the wall that was never actually _there_…

What was the wall anyway? Why was it there? Since when was it there? Or had it always been there?

"Toushiro… nothing else matters. I just want you to remember…" The father gulped down the lump in his throat. "That even through these broken promises, I still love you. And I still love Yukiko. And your mother loved you both. And she still does. So much. Despite everything that happened. Okay?"

Teal eyes across the glass seemed to dim behind white lashes. They seemed to have lost their life, close to appearing like broken shards of a crystal ball that had been glued together to their previous shape. Glued together. But not the same.

"Toushiro?... What are you-"

The buzz pierced through the room again as the security guard placed his large hand on his son's shoulder, signalling that their time was up.

The man watched as his child got up and looked at him one last time before walking away. "If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself."

He bounded out of his seat but restricted by the glass, his handcuffed hands not even being able to bang on the barrier. "Toushiro, no!"

The retreating form of his son grew smaller and smaller until he knew it was too late. Slumping back in his seat, he revelled in his own failure.

Everything in his son's life had always been so wrong. But never as wrong as _this_. No, no, no, no, NO!

This wasn't how it was meant to turn be!

* * *

Sunlight filtered through naked branches that creaked with every freezing breeze. But there was no brightness to bathe in. The golden rays seemed to have been dulled to an ash grey as they warmed Momo's face. Her fingers mindlessly fondled the dry grass she lay on, surrounded by crunchy caramel-coloured leaves, which had once been so green and fresh. All the birds and other animals had gone off to hibernate through the cold in their own warm, little nooks and crannies. Silence filled the cold air. It was almost as though the entire world was asleep.

Winter was here indeed.

The brunette made sure to wriggle her toes so that they wouldn't fall asleep. Her lips were chapped and dry, feeling like they were being gnawed away by the freezing wind.

'_Where is he?...'_

Hinamori remembered waking up that morning and Toushiro not being anywhere to be found. Her uncle had no idea where he had gone either. The two had pondered in silence on where the white-haired teen could have gone so early in the morning while cleaning up the shards of glass that had been left on the tile floor from last night's incident.

'_So many things are happening so quickly that I don't even know what's happening… things seemed so normal less than a week ago… before his birthday…'_

Almost unconsciously, the brunette's fingertips brushed against her bottom lip. When she realised what she was doing, she quickly slammed her hand back down onto the grass, going red with embarrassment at herself. She turned onto her side.

She could feel as giddy or as embarrassed as she wanted over what had happened between her and Toushiro on her birthday in his room but they could never actually run from it.

The two had, had no "progress" in anything after that. Like it had never happened.

'_But it did…'_

What did that make them?

Were they boyfriend and girlfriend?...

'_No… it's not something that's __**official**__…'_

At that thought, Momo felt something coil in her chest. She couldn't place her finger on what it was that was eating away at her. It seemed… akin to yearning. She pretended not to know why that feeling was there but knew that she knew why it was.

What would they have to do from here?...

Considering the time and everything that was happening, it probably wasn't the best idea to be interested in relationships with anybody.

'_Especially for Toushiro…'_

"What the hell are you doing?" The brunette tilted her head to ensure that the voice had come from who she thought it might have come from. A pair of frowning white eyebrows confirmed her theory. "You're going to catch a cold, baka."

The brown eyed girl smiled at him before rolling onto her side but made no effort to get up. The bed of dry leaves had become much too comfortable for her to leave.

Toushiro sighed as he made his way over to the girl's back and kneeled over her. "I said you're going to catch a cold."

There was no response. His eyebrows creased even more. He tried shaking her. "Hey."

Still no response. "Hey!"

He was answered with a groan and a wince. "You okay? Hina-BLEGH!"

Momo laughed as she quickly turned around and threw a handful of leaves into her housemate's face. She quickly jumped up and ran behind the tree for safety while still laughing at the teenage boy spitting the bits of leaves out of his mouth. His aquamarine eyes fixated on her with a challenging glare.

"That was cheap."

"That was funny!"

"You're going to pay…" The male lunged forward at an alarming speed towards the tree.

"No!" Despite her shriek, Momo couldn't help but smile without even realising it. She scrambled towards the front door of the house but Hitsugaya got there first. Lacking the reflexes to jump back, the brunette skid to a halt only to be tackled to the ground. She didn't bother jumping back up to run away. Not that she could with how her stomach was aching with laughter.

The brunette sighed in content for the first time in a long time as Hitsugaya opted to lying down next to her. "You know, if Rangiku found out that you tackled a poor, helpless girl like me, you wouldn't hear the end of it…"

"Poor helpless girl? What's that?"

A smile stretched the female's lips as she playfully punched her crush on the arm. She then resumed losing herself in the cloudless sky, almost feeling as though she was falling into the vast grey-blue. "…it's good to know that even a guy like you can have less serious moments…"

"A guy like me?..."

"You know…"

"Actually, I don't."

Brown eyes rolled. "Forget I said anything then... where were you today anyway?"

The once crisp winter air was suddenly thickened by silence as aquamarine eyes stared into the distance. Yet, they seemed to be staring at nothing. As though their owner was just losing himself in his thoughts. "I was… somewhere."

"Oh really? I never thought…"

"Wow, Momo Hinamori can be sarcastic?"

"Only around lame men like you…"

"And rude."

Momo propped herself up and sat with her legs crossed, crunching dry leaves in the process. She looked down on her housemate's face, him staring back up at her. He opened his mouth.

"You know-"

He stopped.

"Never mind…"

* * *

_**Hhmmm... I know I ended the chapter this way for a reason but it's still kinda strange ahahaha... see you guys! (After a LONG WHILE...)... 3**_


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